GIFT Fish

Breeding GIFT fish or supertilapia in Asia and Africa for low-cost, high-quality protein

In a triumph of fish breeding, WorldFish has developed a better tilapia, known as GIFT, to help farmers raise fish that are bigger and grow faster. The tilapia, often called the aquatic chicken, is the most widely farmed fish in the tropics. It is a perchlike member of the Cichlid family. It originated in Africa, but is now farmed extensively in Asia.

The freshwater fish is prolific and easy to grow. It is also exceptionally hardy and requires little or no expensive high-protein feed to grow quickly. The fish eats almost anything, from grass clippings to vegetable matter and suspended solids.

Also, it requires only modest amounts of water -- the fish tolerates incredible overcrowding -- and is cultivated in many different types of production systems, from extensive to super-intensive practices at small-scale as well as large-scale level.

GIFT, or Genetically Improved Farmed Tilapia, grows 60 per cent faster and has a 50 per cent higher survival rate to adulthood than the original fish. Sometimes also known as the Super Tilapia, the fish was developed through vigorous selection-breeding programs -- the first time a tropical food fish has been improved using such methods. The fish used to breed GIFT was the Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus).

The fish allows three crops a year, instead of two that is obtained with normal strains. Impact assessments show that GIFT farmers enjoy significantly lower production costs (20 to 30 per cent) and better profits. For example, a small farmer in the Philippines owning 1.56 hectares of land can earn as much as US$3,100 more per year by farming GIFT compared with normal strains. The fish can grow to marketable size within only eight months.

Being fast growing and high yielding, GIFT has encouraged more of the poor to take up fish farming, and in the process promote low cost, environmentally friendly aquaculture. It has also given economic empowerment to women who grow them in local ponds.

Tilapia, which can adapt to fresh water or brackish lagoons, can be farmed inland, far from the coast. This means that vital habitats such as mangrove forests need not be cleared to make way for fish farms.

GIFT is now being farmed in 13 countries in Asia -- including Bangladesh, China, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam -- where it is making important contributions to increasing the supply of low-cost, high-quality protein to the poor.

WorldFish works with national partners to ensure long-term effectiveness of breeding programs. Recently, selection-breeding programs and field trials were conducted to further develop the GIFT strain Malaysia , in collaboration with the country's Fisheries Research Institute. Tilapia is expected to play a prominent role in Malaysia 's plans to expand the aquaculture sector and turn it into a major component of the country's agriculture, which has been identified by the government as the third largest engine of economic growth.

GIFT was developed with funding from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Asian Development Bank. The Philippines ' Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and Central Luzon State University collaborated on the project, along with the Aquaculture Research Institute of Norway and institutions in Egypt , Ghana , Kenya and Senegal .

The technology to breed GIFT has been transferred to Egypt , Ivory Coast , Ghana and Malawi in Africa , with funding from the UNDP. The generation produced in 2002 have been grown out and evaluated and the parents of the next generation selected, thus starting the cycle of continued genetic improvement. The technology is being extended to other African countries.

Africans currently get most of their fish from capture fisheries. But supply is falling short of demand as population increases and catches from the wild stagnate. In some countries, there are less fish in the diet than in the 1970s. Fish is the primary source of protein for Africans and -- for the 200 million undernourished people -- the only source.

Within the next 20 years, Africa 's population is likely to exceed 1 billion, and fish production must expand by 60 per cent to keep up with population growth. Aquaculture can play a role in boosting fish supply and providing employment for millions of poor Africans. In 2001 WorldFish strengthened its presence in Africa , which has limited resources, to promote sustainable aquaculture and fisheries and so improve food security and livelihoods. Efforts are focused on the following aquatic systems: rivers and floodplains; lakes and reservoirs; and coastal fisheries. WorldFish's African research and training facility is in Abbassa , Egypt.

Overall, aquaculture is expected to play a crucial role in meeting the developing world's growing demand for fish, which is likely to double by 2020. It currently accounts for 30 per cent of the global fish output and is the fastest growing segment of world food production. It is an increasingly important activity to the economies of developing countries, which account for 90 per cent of the world's aquaculture output.