The authority stated that the State had identified 12,000 hectares of water bodies suitable for fish culture and that the State Fisheries Department had decided to issue permission to fish farmers for farming of tilapia, a variety that flourishes in fresh and mildly saline waters, reports The Hindu.
MPEDA claimed that farmers in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, had over the last three years succeeded in tilapia culture adopting the methods developed by World Fish Centre, Malaysia and the help of MPEDA’s Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Aquaculture.
Farmers in Kerala, who had received fingerlings from Andhra Pradesh last year, succeeded in getting between Rs. 160 and Rs. 311 for a kg for the produce, the MPEDA statement said.