Bangladesh shares its Artemia and GIFT tilapia experience with Kenya and Ghana

WorldFish has held an international workshop in Dhaka to share Bangladesh's experience of farming Artemia on salt pans and spreading GIFT tilapia with Kenya and Ghana. Policymakers, researchers, development partners, private-sector representatives and aquaculture specialists from the three countries attended the workshop, titled 'Brine Shrimp Artemia Aquaculture, GIFT Dissemination and Institutional Collaboration'.

Under CGIAR's Sustainable Animal and Aquatic Foods and Scaling for Impact science programmes, the meeting discussed Artemia farming, integrated salt, Artemia and fish farming systems, and the responsible spread of GIFT (Genetically Improved Farmed Tilapia). It also reviewed ways to strengthen institutional cooperation among the three countries.

The first session presented the results of the EU-funded Artemia for Bangladesh project: integrated production of Artemia, shrimp, tilapia, crab and vegetables on the salt pans of Cox's Bazar, production of Artemia cysts and biomass, modern hatchery technology and nutrition-sensitive fish farming. The keynotes were given by Professor Patrick Sorgeloos of Ghent University in Belgium and Dr Muhammad Mizanur Rahman, WorldFish's Artemia specialist.

The second session covered three decades of GIFT tilapia development and dissemination in Bangladesh. A paper prepared by Dr Mohammad Golam Hossain, former director general of the Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI), was presented by Dr A.H.M. Kohinoor and Zillur Rahman. It described Bangladesh's experience of keeping the strain's genetic quality and of producing and supplying quality fry through the private sector.

Dr A.T.M. Faruk-ul Islam, WorldFish's country representative in Bangladesh, said south-south cooperation can play a big part in spreading innovation and sustainable solutions in aquaculture, and stressed exchanging knowledge and technology among the three countries to build more productive and climate-resilient aquatic food systems.

"GIFT is a tested and successful technology," said Dr Khondker Murshed-E-Jahan, senior scientist at WorldFish. "But a clear method is needed to transfer it effectively from one country to another."

Kazi Nazrul Islam, director of BSCIC, Dr Motaleb Hossain, director (inland fisheries) of the Department of Fisheries, and Dr Amirul Islam, director (research, planning and finance) of BFRI, also attended.

Photo: Doc Searls / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Source: samakal