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future FISH OF THE
South Africa Magazine travels to Zimbabwe to visit tilapia fish farmer Lake Harvest Aquaculture. By Ian Armitage
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arikai Munatsirei, General Manager of the largest tilapia producer in Africa, Lake Harvest, says he is operating in “an insatiable market.” He has good reason. Tilapia is a fish, which could become the biggest food phenomenon of this century. “Tilapia is a sustainable replacement for cod, for instance. In the US it has really taken off in the last 15 years,” says Garikai. Lake Harvest’s order books are growing and, unsurprisingly, it is looking to expand. “We are increasing production to 25,000 tons per annum,” says Garikai. “The expansion programme started at the end of 2009. We are currently operating at between 7,500 tons per annum. Obviously that will more than double in the near future. “As prices rise and product availability falls, we expect to grow,” he adds. “The expansion will be complete in five years.” In a recent report the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) painted a bleak picture of the state of global fisheries. Fish consumption has reached an all-time high, while 32 percent of world fish stocks is estimated to be overexploited, depleted or recovering, and need to be urgently rebuilt. “For a company like us, able to produce a sustainable, high quality product, the market potential is quite simply enormous,” Garikai says. It was in 1997 that Lake Harvest Aquaculture was first granted a licence by the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZPWMA) to produce tilapia in
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Lake Harvest FEATURE
cages in the eastern basin of Lake Kariba. The total area of the licence was 12 km2 and the licence initially allowed for the production of up to 5,000 tons per annum, this has since been increased to 25,000 tons. Lake Harvest plans to expand this in a staggered manner to reach maximum annual production of 25,000 tons. “That will be achieved full through utilisation of our current leased area,” Garikai says. The project is the only one of its kind in Zimbabwe that involves cage culture of fish on an industrial scale and is also currently the largest fish farming enterprise in Africa. “We breed and rear the fish in land-based fish ponds,” Garikai explains. “We then grow the fish in floating fish cages in the lake and then we process the fish in our state of the EU approved factory.” Fillets from the factory are exported mainly to Europe and South Africa while the whole bream and by-products are
We breed and rear fish in land-based fish ponds. We then grow the fish in floating fish cages in the lake and then we process the fish in our state of the art EU approved factory
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sold in Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa and the regional markets. “The expansion will have a significant social impact,” Garikai continues. “Lake Harvest currently employs around 700 people and the workforce will reach 2,000 after the expansion. “The project increases food security locally and low income groups in the area who consume fish will have protein in their diets. Expansion would help cut the price of fish considerably too, while we also support the local community with investment in education and healthcare. “Why are we looking to expand? Well, we are trying to say that because the supply of fish from the wild is dwindling all the time but demand for fish continues to increase worldwide. People eat fish for health reasons and we feel that we will be able to supply fish with the wild supply declining. It is an opportunity for us to meet increased demand. It is an opportunity for now and in the future. That is why we are doing what we are doing,” Garikai says. It is a remarkable success story, made all the more remarkable given the recent struggles of the country it operates in – Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe’s economy was battered heavily by hyperinflation, at one time
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estimated at 500 billion percent. The power-sharing government formed in February 2009 has led to some economic improvements, including the elimination of the Zimbabwe dollar and the removal of price controls. The economy is registering growth, but will be reliant on further political and economic stabilisation. “We did very well to survive hyperinflation,” says Garikai. “The company was started in 1997 and we opened our EU approved factory in 1999 and EU exports commenced immediately. In 2000 the well-documented problems of Zimbabwe for the next 10 years started. Between 2003 and 2005 we started groundwork in Uganda and SON Fish Farm Uganda pilot project opened in 2006. From 2006 to 2007 we did Ghana 6
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We did very well to survive hyperinflation
groundwork, but not much has happened there yet. By 2008 there were early signs that Zimbabwe was reforming. In 2009 we got a new investor African Century Group and we haven’t looked back. “Today we supply the English market to Waitrose through New England Seafood. Tilapia has been farmed in Lake Kariba for the past 15 years.”
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The project increases food security locally and low income groups in the area who consume fish will have protein in their diets
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The fish is a farmed product whose diet is 95 percent vegetarian and which grows quickly in its indigenous environment in the warm waters of Lake Kariba. At one time the largest man-made lake in the world, Garikai says. “How are we performing? We are happy with production levels,” he says. “I think the business is doing well. We were unfortunate that our plans were disrupted by the fact that Zimbabwe was crippled by hyperinflation. We were struggling to survive until the economy dollarized in early 2009. We switched to the US dollar. It made it easier to work. However, this brought new challenges as all costs like labour, feed raw materials, utilities hardened. Since dollarization, labour costs have increased by over 10-times
in real terms and unions used to negotiating wages in Zimbabwe dollars under hyperinflation are still clamouring for more! “Overall, the business environment has improved significantly compared to the Zimbabwe dollar era up to end 2008; our biggest threat now is overpriced labour compared to our neighbours which makes Zimbabwe an expensive place to do business. We think most of the problems are behind us and we are looking to the future with guarded optimism. “Tilapia, we are sure, is the fish of the future,” Garikai concludes. “It is the most sustainable farmed fish available to us and is a great source of protein. We are sure that without sustainable aquaculture fish will disappear from our oceans and diets.”END
P.O Box Cy517, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe TEL: +263 772 203 087/ +263 773 053 781 FAX: +263 4 776350, 2926045 EMAIL: jmoyo@comone.co.zw/pm37937@gmail.com
Nutrition for Africa is proud to be associated with Lake Harvest. We look forward to mutually growing our business in a win-win relationship that we have enjoyed over the years.
Nutrition for Africa supplies: crude oil, mechanically extracted soya meal, cotton cake and a wide range of animal stock feeds.
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