Sustainable fish farming in Rwanda: Evaluation of local feed ingredients for Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus

Aquaculture is recent in Rwanda dates 1950s, fish food accessibility is still rare with a per capita fish consumption around ~ 2 %, the lowest in East Africa region. One of the main explanation remains the lack of reliable, affordable locally available fish feed.

Science based planning and implementation is key when talking about sustainable aquaculture which contributes to people’s nutrition status and poverty eradication where mostly fish farmers practice and benefit from small-scale fish farming in Rwanda.

We analyzed prevailing fish farming practices and constraints. We expect to produce an affordable and quality feed for the most cultured and highly appreciated Nile tilapia fish using the country’s abundant water and feed resources potentials among others. This project aligns with the Government of Rwanda vision 2020 and EDPRS II, as well as SDGs.

The objective with this project was to achieve total or partial replacement of the expensive and unsecure fish meal, fish oil and soybean meal with locally available traditional and novel feed resources.

This PhD project consisted of four studies:

• Assessment of Selection of ingredients
• Chemical analysis
• Diet formulation
• Diet testing

Doctoral theses: Evaluation of locally available feed resources for Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in Rwanda.