Cover photographs: Front cover Top: Rearing of hormonal sex reversed Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) fry in hapas, Trishal, Bangladesh (Courtesy of FAO/Nesar Ahmed). Middle left: Transport of feed ingredients in a rickshaw van, Mymensingh, Bangladesh (Courtesy of FAO/Nesar Ahmed). Middle right: Harvest of Indian major (rohu, catla and mrigal) and exotic carps (silver, grass and common) from a semi-intensive ployculture pond in Mymensingh, Bangladesh (Courtesy of FAO/Mohammad R. Hasan). Bottom: Indian major carp fry are kept in hapas for conditioning for 1-2 days before being sold and transported, Jessore, Bangladesh (Courtesy of FAO/ Mohammad R. Hasan). Back cover Top to bottom: A woman farmer showing her harvested shrimp, Khulna, Bangladesh (Courtesy of FAO/Begum Nurun Naher). Farm-made/semi-commercial feed are being packed after sun drying, Bagerhat, Bangladesh (Courtesy of FAO/Nesar Ahmed). A farmer feeding his fish in a pangas (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) farm in Trishal, Bangladesh (Courtesy of FAO/Mohammad R. Hasan). Cover design: Mohammad R. Hasan and Koen Ivens Edited by Mohammad R. Hasan Aquaculture Officer Aquaculture Branch FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department Rome, Italy and J. Richard Arthur FAO Consultant Barriere, British Columbia, Canada FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS ROME, 2015 FAO. 2015. Aquaculture seed and feed production and management in Bangladesh - Status, issues and constraints, by Hasan, M.R. & Arthur, J.R. Rome, FAO. The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. The views expressed in this information product are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of FAO. ISBN 978-92-5-108884-5 © FAO, 2015 FAO encourages the use, reproduction and dissemination of material in this information product. Except where otherwise indicated, material may be copied, downloaded and printed for private study, research and teaching purposes, or for use in non-commercial products or services, provided that appropriate acknowledgement of FAO as the source and copyright holder is given and that FAO’s endorsement of users’ views, products or services is not implied in any way. All requests for translation and adaptation rights, and for resale and other commercial use rights should be made via www.fao.org/contact-us/licence-request or addressed to [email protected]. FAO information products are available on the FAO website (www.fao.org/publications) and can be purchased through [email protected]. Preparation of this document This document presents the findings of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Technical Cooperation Programme Facility (TCPF) Project (TCP/BGD/3301) “Identification and understanding of key technical, economic and social constraints to seed and feed production and management in Bangladesh”, which was implemented between January and August 2012. The project was initiated with two national field surveys on the status and constraints of (i) the aquaculture seed subsector and (ii) aquafeed subsector. These field surveys were conducted from January to March 2012 by two national consultants, and followed by an FAO country field mission (April 2012) and a verification mission by two international consultants (August 2012) for these two subsectors. The printed publication contains the main report synthesizing major findings of the project. Its conclusions and recommendations were drawn from the reports that have been made available on the accompanying CD–ROM: (i) the reports of the field survey on technical, economic and social constraints to aquaculture seed and feed production and management; and (ii) the reports of the verification mission on aquaculture seed and feed production and management. The reports on the CD–ROM have been reproduced as submitted with minor editing. Although modestly funded, this TCPF project was implemented and completed in a short period on schedule and within budget. It accomplished all its objectives. Much of this success is owed to the full support of Syed Arif Azad, Director General of the Department of Fisheries (DoF), Government of Bangladesh, and the assistance and generous information shared openly by the officers of the DoF headquarters and field offices. The smooth execution of the project activities was a result of the timely assistance and good counsel from the staff of the Office of the FAO Representation in Bangladesh, in particular, Dominique Burgeon and Michael Robson, former and present FAO Representatives, and Begum Nurun Naher, National Operations Officer. Weimin Miao, Regional Aquaculture Officer, FAORAP, provided technical support and guidelines for the project. The manuscripts in this report were reviewed for technical content, FAO house style and language quality by Mohammad R. Hasan and J. Richard Arthur. For consistency and conformity, scientific and English common names of fish species are from FishBase (www.fishbase.org/search.php). Marianne Guyonnet is acknowledged for her assistance in quality control and FAO house style. Koen Ivens prepared the layout design for printing. Publication and distribution of the report were undertaken by FAO, Rome. iii Abstract This document presents the findings of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Technical Cooperation Programme Facility (TCPF) Project (TCP/BGD/3301) “Identification and understanding of key technical, economic and social constraints to seed and feed production and management in Bangladesh”, implemented between January and August 2012. The project was initiated by national field surveys conducted between January and March 2012 by two national consultants who investigated the status and constraints of the aquaculture seed and aquafeed subsectors. These field surveys were then followed by an FAO country field mission undertaken in April 2012 and by a verification mission by two international consultants in August 2012. These missions collected further evidence and verified the information revealed by the two field surveys through in-depth unstructured interviews and focus-group discussions with the different players in the seed and feed supply chain, by site visits to projects, facilities and farms in several aquaculture-rich districts of the country and through the holding of a stakeholders’ workshop. Together, these activities identified the key technical, economic and social constraints hindering the development of the aquaculture seed and feed production and management subsectors in Bangladesh. They also provided recommendations related to improving the four key areas of improved seed quality, improved aquafeed quality, strengthened capacities of farmers to utilize feed efficiently, and increased technical efficiencies of small-scale aquafeed producers. This publication and the accompanying CD–ROM present (i) a synthesis of the project’s major findings, including the conclusions and recommendations of the field surveys, FAO country field mission and the verification mission (including the stakeholders’ workshop); (ii) reports of the field surveys and (iii) the reports of the verification mission. The recommendations contained in this document should lead to a sustained improvement in the technical and economic efficiencies of the main players in the aquaculture seed and aquafeed subsectors in Bangladesh, from the raw material suppliers to the farmers. This is expected to improve their productivity and economic returns and assure the sustainable growth of the country’s aquaculture sector. iv Contents Preparation of this document iii Abstract iv Abbreviations and acronyms vi Executive summary vii A synthesis of key technical, economic and social constraints to seed and feed production and management in Bangladesh Mohammad R. Hasan, Aquaculture Branch, FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, Rome, Italy Pedro B. Bueno, FAO International Consultant, Bangkok, Thailand 1 Contents of the CD–ROM Field survey report on technical, economic and social constraints to aquaculture seed production and management in Bangladesh Mohammad Rafiqul Islam Sarder Department Fisheries Biology and Genetics, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Bangladesh 49 Field survey report on technical, economic and social constraints to aquafeed production and management in Bangladesh Nesar Ahmed Department Fisheries Management, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Bangladesh 57 Report of the verification mission on aquaculture seed production and broodstock management Padmanav Routray Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Bhubaneshwar, India 79 Report of the verification mission on aquaculture feed production and management Thomas Ashley Shipton Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries Science, Rhodes University, South Africa 89 v Abbreviations and acronyms BARC Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council BAU Bangladesh Agricultural University BFRI Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute BMP better management practice BSFF