Mozambique Aquacultura E Agricultura, a hatchery which had been established by Alwyn Kruger and his family, housed 500 YY tilapia broodstock – fish that were able to produce 99 percent male offspring without the need for hormonal sex-reversal, making him a pioneer of the practice in the East African country.
However on 14 March 2019 Cyclone Idai destroyed 90 percent of his home city, Beira, as well as wiping out Kruger’s entire stock of fish – broodstock with the capability of producing at least 5 million all-male tilapia fingerlings a year. Kruger tried to keep his broodstock and fingerlings alive but after a while the generator broke due to water in the fuel, the aeration stopped and he lost all the fish.
However, following this disaster staff from Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation (WCDI), part of Wageningen University and Research, which had been contracted by the Zambezi Valley Development Authority (ZVDA) to support aquaculture development in the area, decided to intervene.
Having heard about the fate of Kruger’s hatchery they contacted Netherlands-based Til-Aqua International, who decided to donate 500 YY broodstock to the Krugers. Convinced that restoring the hatchery would be an effective contribution to aquaculture development in Mozambique, ZVDA paid the certification and transport costs needed to ship the broodstock from the Netherlands to Beira.
The Dutch firm has also pledged to support Alwyn as he seeks to rebuild his hatchery and, with it, the tilapia sector in Mozambique.
