The lack of access to investment capital was also mentioned by the Policy Officer Trade Promotion and
Bilateral Economic Cooperation of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, as being a major
bottleneck for private sector involvement in agriculture, including aquaculture. Banks are reluctant
with the provision of loans, which is partly caused by the inability to make a proper risk assessment of
the project concerned due to a lack of aquaculture expertise at the banks.
3.5.6 Socio-economic potential
In Tanzania the market potential for fish is high. This is mainly due to the Tanzanian fast growing
population and increased buying power. When it comes to market differentiation, three main segments
Fisheries (Laboratory Fees) Regulations of 2012. Among other things, the Fisheries Development
Division is responsible for monitoring, control and surveillance of fishing, efficient fisheries resources
utilization, marketing, and the certification of fish and fishery products and ensures that they meet
national and international quality and safety standards requirements.The Department of Aquaculture
Development (DAD) under the MLFD was established in September 2008, to oversee aquaculture
development in the country. Following its establishment, DAD has put in place National Aquaculture
Development Strategy (NADS) which is currently at implementation stage. The Department has two
sections, a fresh water aquaculture section and marine aquaculture section (see annex 5).
The National Fish Quality Control Laboratory (NFQCL) Nyegezi, Mwanza which is under the Fisheries
Development Division in the MLFD was established in 1997. NFQCL is responsible with safety and
Quality assurance of the fish and fish products in order to comply with the national Fisheries
Legislation and the international market standards and requirements. The NFQCL achieved its
accreditation status in 2007 through South African National Accreditation System (SANAS). This was
can be distinguished: low income, middle income and high income. The low income group prefers
imported mackerel (per piece), small-sized whole fish or small portions of a larger fish. This allows
them to buy one fish or piece for each family member. The middle-income group prefer small to
medium-sized whole fish, while the high-income group prefer big fish, often purchased at restaurants
or high end butcheries. The market prices of tilapia will follow wild-caught tilapia prices of the Lakes:
around TSH4,000/kg (€1.77) for the farmer and TSH1,000-2,000/kg for the middle men. This is more
than tilapia prices in Egypt, the largest market in Africa, where farmers get €1.40-1.50/kg tilapia.
Large aquaculture farms will be able to bypass the middleman and to distribute directly to make a
higher profit.
Tanzania has most of the key ingredients for fish feed available in the country. In Kenya production of
fish feed costs around €0.90 per kg fish, where it is expected that in Tanzania production will cost
around the same. Feed cost make up around 65% of the total production cost, which make the total
production costs around €1.39/kg. The above mentioned costs and revenues show a positive economic
potential to produce tilapia in Tanzania.
3.5.7 Conclusions
• Current status of aquaculture in Tanzania is modest with a production of approximately 3600
MT/year.
• Natural resources (water, land, climate) are sufficiently available and suitable for aquaculture
development.
• On the input side, quality seeds/fingerlings and feeds, and access to investment capital are the
major constraints.
• The demand for tilapia is high and will continue to grow in the coming decade as a result of
population growth, increased buying power and popularity of tilapia.
• Although real prices of tilapia have declined, it is expected that future price development will be
positive due to a strong increasing in demand
• Based on current market prices and feed costs, tilapia aquaculture is a profitable business
• Cage culture of tilapia in Lake Victoria (and possibly other lakes) has the biggest potential
• Several investors are waiting to start cage farming following the successful example of SON in
Uganda. However, completion of the decision making processes for the issuing of cage licences will
require probably one more year.
3.5.2 Availability of inputs (for tilapia culture)
Reasonable numbers of Nile tilapia fingerlings (both mixed and monosex) are available through
various small (semi-) commercial hatcheries and governmental stations (see Annex 4).
Although not much is known about the quality and productive performance (none of the hatcheries are
using breeding programmes for genetic improvement), at the present stage of tilapia aquaculture in
the country the availability of fingerlings is not immediately constraining further development.
Raw materials of plant origin for incorporation into tilapia feed, such as rice bran, wheat middling’s,
maize, maize bran, cassava, cotton seed cake and soybean meal are readily available but may be in
competition with use for livestock feeding. There are presently no factories that produce formulated
fish feeds in Tanzania. Farmers either use farm made feeds (meals or simple (extruded) pellets), or
purchase simple feeds from TAFIRI or other governmental stations. The absence of manufactured fish
feed is caused by a low and scattered demand, mainly due to lack of knowledge on feed and feed
management at the farm and the benefits accrued from using manufactured feeds.
3.5.3 Institutional setting
The Fisheries Development Division, under the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development
(MLFD), is the designated Competent Authority in all matters pertaining to fish and fishery products.
This is in accordance with the Fisheries Act No. 22 of 2003 and Fisheries Regulations of 2009 and the
purposely done in order to increase consumer’s confidence with the safety of the fishery products
exported from Tanzania to foreign markets such as the European Union (EU) member countries,
United States of America (USA), Japan and Australia. In order to meet this obligation, the NFQCL is
required to comply with ISO/IEC 17025 standards. The Quality system undertaken by the laboratory
ensures that the requirements of the standards ISO 9001 and ISO/IEC 17025 are met.
Other governmental bodies related to fisheries & aquaculture include the National Environment
Management Council (NEMC), the Marine Parks and Reserves Unit (MPRU), the Board of External
Trade (BET), and the Tanzania Foods and Drugs Authority (TFDA), see for detailed description
Annex 6.
Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute (TAFIRI) was established by the Act of Parliament No. 6 of 1980
to promote, conduct, and co-ordinate fisheries research in Tanzania. This is the only Fisheries organ
mandated by the government to carry out different researches on fisheries matters. Its core functions
include carrying out research in the fields of fisheries statistics and stock assessment; Fish biology,
taxonomy and fisheries of commercially important fish species; Socio-economic and marketing;
Hydrobiology and water pollution; Gear technology and Aquaculture.
Department Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries of the University of Dar es Salaam was established in April
2009 from the two teaching departments that existed in the former Faculty of Aquatic Sciences and
Technology (FAST) following the restructuring of the University of Dar es Salaam that resulted in
