GROWTH OF TILAPIA INDUSTRY IN INDIA

In 2009 the Indian government realized that undocumented shipments of tilapia are entering the country and that many farmers were beginning to work with the fish without any organization or planning.   Marine Product Export Development Authority (MPEDA) decided to organize a conference to address this issue and invited an international panel of experts to discuss the situation and provide recommendations for how tilapia aquaculture should be organized.   Subsequently the government developed guidelines for importation, biosecurity, quarantines and licensing.  This guidance has allowed the tilapia industry to rapidly expand in an organized fashion.   Production in 2016 has grown to 18,000 metric tons per year.

Tilapia farming is clustered in Andhra Pradesh and Kerala states.  The most common production systems are in ponds, cages, raceways and tanks.   Tilapia are also used in aquaponics systems contributing less than 1% of the national production.  Tilapia have been incorporated into polyculture with shrimp, providing and additional cash crop for the farmer and reducing incidence and severity of viral and bacterial diseases in the shrimp.  Polyculture with carps has also been reported in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu states.  The shrimp and carp polyculture provide about 3 % and 5% of national production of tilapia.

Most of the tilapia being farmed are Oreochromis niloticus (Nile tilapia) although there are some red tilapia hybrids present, especially in areas using higher salinity water for polyculture.  Virtually all of the tilapia produced in India is sold in domestic markets in a whole fish on ice mode.