Uganda: Aquaculture fish feed sector support: Analysis of the availability of the existing and potential fish feed ingredients and development of potential fish feed formulas for fish farmers in Uganda

Project Background

The overall objective of the contract is to develop and evaluate fish feed formulas based on locally available materials or ingredients. The study will investigate local feed ingredients in Uganda, for example, evaluate the use of black soldier fly larvae and soybeans to replace silverfish as the main source of protein in animal feed production and develop different fish feed formulas. The feed formulas will be commercialised through the Uganda Climate Smart Agricultural Transformation Project (CSATP) support. The project will engage the private sector and farmer organisations by providing matching grants to acquire equipment for feed production. The resulting feed formulas will be provided to these groups and the private sector through capacity-building workshops and, in some cases, hand holdings.

Objectives

The specific objective of the study is to address the current questions on the availability of agricultural products and by-products in sufficient quantity and quality for the development of semi-intensive aquaculture under favorable technical and economic production conditions. The work will be undertaken across all agro-ecologies in Uganda and the contract activities will include:

(i) Review literature to generate a checklist of existing and potential fish feed ingredients available in the 10 agro-ecological zones of Uganda.

(ii) Determine the nutritional value of the fish feed ingredients for use in fish feed formulation.

(iii) Analyse the availability, abundance and/or seasonality of existing and potential fish feed ingredients and their potential for large-scale production.

(iv) Generate fish feed formulations that meet the nutritional requirements of the commonly farmed fish species and evaluate them to identify those that optimise fish growth.

Activities and/or Results

• Task 1.0: Production systems analysis and financial capacity assessment.
• Task 1.1: Cross inventory of agricultural products and by-products present in Uganda and of interest for the feeding of African continental fish farming.
• Task 1.2: Production characteristics of agricultural products and by-products present in Uganda and of interest for fish nutrition.
• Task 1.3: Characterisation and recommendations for good storage and preservation practices.
• Task 1.4: Determination of the location of the pilot fish feed manufacturing units.
• Task 1.5: Delivered price by region and delivered price of raw materials.
• Task 1.6: Search for animal protein sources.
• Task 1.7: Evaluation of the technical coefficients and ratios of transformation.
• Task 2.0: Detailed analysis and nutrition value analysis of selected ingredients.
• Task 2.1: Typology of fish feed formulations.
• Task 2.2: Food shape determination and selection.
• Task 2.3: Titration of foods by species and size (nutrition characteristics).
• Task 2.4: Feed formulation by species and size.
• Task 2.5: Calculation of raw material cost per feed formulation and per species.
• Task 3: Delivery of final report and deliverables as defined in the ToR.