Aquaculture – a struggling industry that begs for relevant technology

Mar 16, 2014 News

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By Keeran Danny

The potential is there for aquaculture to emerge as a grand industry making significant contributions to Guyana’s Gross Domestic Product. Securing markets locally and abroad is no problem, but aquaculture has not yet proven to be economically feasible.
Beni Sankar has been involved in aquaculture for five years and has invested about $50M in this venture. Currently, he has 50 acres of land at Hampton Court, Region Two, dedicated to rearing tilapia, pacu, hassar and arapaima.

Sankar comes from a long line of rice farmers but in an evolving Guyana, where the new generation is not too keen on being farmers, he has boldly ventured into aquaculture. Rice farming, a traditional industry, is very risky, especially during the harvesting season, and requires a lot of attention.
He believes that rice farmers should get involved in fish farming on a semi-intensive scale. Not much infrastructural works are required to create fish ponds. In fact, it is similar to preparing a rice field with drainage and irrigation canals. Interchanging the farmlands could help with the fertility of the lands, Sankar added.
According to him, about seven persons are currently involved in the industry and not many are tempted to join because aquaculture has not yet been proven economical. In addition, there is a challenge accessing help from the Satyadeow Sawh Aquaculture Station and the Ministry of Agriculture’s Fisheries Department.

DEVELOPING SINKING FEED
Tilapia may be synonymous to aquaculture in Guyana, but Sankar believes pacu should be the fish the industry aggressively pursues. Even though tilapia is a prolific fish and pacu is difficult to breed, pacu gives a higher output because it could grow up to about 15 pounds.
“Pacu is a more hardy fish; it gains the weight twice as much as tilapia. It can be grown in more acidic lands than tilapia. So if you get a lot of pagasse land the pacu can make it there,” he said.
He added that pacu is a natural fish of the wild and likes to feed at the bottom of the pond, which suits the sinking feed being developed by Sankar and his team at Hampton Court. Currently, Sankar’s team is trying to formulate a feed that would be affordable, satisfying, and allow for greater output.
The sinking feed is made from ingredients available locally such as fish meal, shrimp meal, and wheat meddling. The formula to have the right amounts of ingredients in the feed needs the input of an expert. Many failed attempts by the hatchery could be frustrating, but the aim of one day finding the correct mixture is comforting.
Developing this feed is important to make the operations profitable, Sankar says. He believes that the Satyadeow Sawh Aquaculture Station should have been in the forefront helping to make the sinking feed.
“Buying feed from the United States and transporting it to Hampton Court is quite costly and feed is about 65 to 70 percent of the input needed to produce fish. So if you can cut your cost in whichever way, then you are in business. Those are some of the things I have thought about…When you are doing floating feed it’s very expensive and you would have to get things like an extruder and other materials which would cost a lot of money,” Sankar said.

BREEDING PACU
Pacu breeding is very specific. It requires a fish about three years old and special hormones have to be injected in both male and female. The sperms and eggs are bled from the male and female respectively. The sperms and eggs are fused together and placed in an incubator. This process has been attempted many times, but Sankar’s team has to date been unsuccessful.
He feels strongly that the Satyadeow Sawh Aquaculture Station could help with this process. But, like in many instances the station remains good in principle but is not proactive in this emerging industry that is struggling.

AQUACULTURE STATION

On a scale of one to 10, the aquaculture industry in Guyana is currently at one, according to Sankar. Farmers are exposed to basic knowledge and everything is learned through trial and error. Sankar said that Guyana’s tilapia production is unsuccessful because of the unavailability of the right technology.
“We are suffering…we are drifting.” He emphasized that the system from the Stations is not much help to farmers and the authorities seem to be less knowledgeable than the farmers.
He noted that in the past there were some initiatives to supposedly help aquaculture farmers but these were unsuccessful. In addition, some programmes focused on marketing of the produce which he found wasteful since farmers need help with technology.

MARKETING  
According to Sankar, there is a large market for every fish caught locally and this is therefore no problem. In fact, the price one would get for pacu, tilapia and hassar locally is greater.
“People keep asking about market, market isn’t a problem you can get that anywhere in the world, but it’s the price…So if you can bring down your cost of production you are in game. Like right now, a lot of pacu is being sold to Suriname. The Brazilians love pacu so there are a lot of Brazilian miners who come and buy it,” he said.
He noted that there will always be a demand for fish, more so food, around the world. In fact, with the depleting fish stock in the oceans and seas, aquaculture surely has a place.

SANKAR’S IDEAL MODEL
The troubles encountered by fish farmers could be reduced if Government helps to facilitate the development of the industry. Sankar has been highlighting the need for Government to provide lands for a centralized aquaculture initiative.
The model Sankar is pushing is to have an aquaculture park comprising approximately 1,000 acres of land, rented or sold to private farmers, and surrounding a central area privately managed. This central area would provide the relevant technology, feed and market links for farmers.
He believes this would accommodate the growth of the industry, eliminate some of the hurdles farmers are encountering and empower persons.

COULD AQUACULTURE REPLACE THE SUGAR INDUSTRY?
Having being born on a sugar plantation, Sankar is saddened with the state of the sugar industry today. However, he does not believe the industry should be closed or be replaced by aquaculture. “The sugar industry is very important and recent initiatives such as the Skeldon Sugar Factory and the Enmore Packaging Plant have deep rooted good principles. But, they were badly managed projects. With many countries not continuing with sugar production, Guyana essentially has an upper hand to sell to those markets. The heavy investments made in the sugar industry should have been able to allow Guyana to tap into those markets.”

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