Broodstock Selection

Successful farming requires fish breeders to select broodstock for increased production in quality and quantity of fish seeds. Broodstock is a good predictor of fecundity and can be used to select fish of higher seed production.

When selecting broodstock, farmers should look for the following:

• Brooders must be secured from a trusted source and advisable to procure brooders from a Multiplication Centre for genetically improved strains
• Younger brooders of one year should be selected.
• It is preferable for brooders to weigh 150-300 g on average
• Highly vigorous, well-fed brooders must be selected
• Avoid feeble or diseased brooders
• The brooder should have no wounds or parasites
• The body should possess the required shape, conformations, and proportions.

Broodstock Management

• The sex ratio of males to females for all types of breeding facilities ranges from 1:2-3 (male: female) per m2
• Replace brooders with new ones of the same species every three years
• Keep records for each batch of broodstock
• Remove the premaxilla of the male fish by clipping it with scissors to prevent injury or the death of females during courtship
• Spawning is so stressful to the female brooders. Therefore, the need for balanced feeds to improve reproductive capacity and to produce highly vigorous fry, free from malformations
• Floating feeds are currently used to reduce feed loss and maintain water quality.
• Loss of appetite is considered indicative of the number of brooders carrying eggs in each unit
• Feed broodstock daily with formulated dry pellets that contain 30%–35% dietary crude protein
• Feed them twice daily at a feeding rate of 1%–2% of their weight
• Remove the eggs to prevent the females from incubating their eggs orally. This allows better control of hatching and lets the female produce another batch of eggs.

Seed collection and egg incubation

• Tilapia show a high degree of parental care for their eggs and fry
• Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and three-spotted tilapia (Oreochromis andersonii) are mouthbrooders
• They incubate the eggs in their mouth until they are fully hatched
• Collecting fry collection from ponds usually occurs every 7–21 days
• Female broodstock must be checked regularly for eggs. If they carry eggs in their mouths, they must be collected and transferred into the hatchery.
• Transfer harvested eggs and yolk-sac larvae to the hatchery section
• Clean and washed with clean water first then disinfected with potassium permanganate (2 ppm which is 2 mg in 1 liter of clean water) for 30 minutes and then washed in clean water again.
• Gently transfer the eggs into incubating Jar or tray which can be a more effective method for creating optimal health conditions of fry and for better control. However, it is very labor-intensive and not the most cost-effective technique
• Hapa technology is a convenient means of collecting and rearing tilapia fry and cost-effective

Sex reversal Hormone feed preparation and Management Practices

• Dissolve exactly 4-5 g of methyltestosterone in exactly 1.0 liter of 95% ethyl alcohol. (This quantity is sufficient to treat approximately 300,000 fries)
• Prepare the ground and sieve the dry feed ingredients
• Mix the alcohol-hormone stock solution with the alcohol
• Add solution slowly and mix it with the dry feed ingredients
• Allow the alcohol to evaporate at room temperature with no direct sunlight by spreading out the mixture to a maximum thickness of 3–5 cm and mixing lightly
• Store stock solution at 4 0C
• Treated feeds can be packed once the mixture feels dry to the touch and all the odor of the alcohol has disappeared. This ensures>98% reversal of sex to male

The following are the materials needed to produce 1 kg of sex reversal feed:

• 1 kg of 0.2 mm feed (with at least 40% protein)
• 4–5 g of 17 alpha methyltestosterone hormone
• 1.0 liter of 95% ethyl alcohol (WorldFish Egypt Abbassa recommendation)

Hormonal Sex- reversal

2 Synthetic Androgens used in masculinizing tilapia

Ethyl testosterone

Methyltestosterone

However, the hormone is used for a very short time, and several studies have shown that: it is cost-effective and testosterone levels in adult fish that have been hormonally sex-reversed are actually very low.

• Make sure the facility has a protocol for managing water used for sex reversal.
• Do not release hormone-treated water directly into the environment.
• Always comply with government standards, where these exist

Better Management Practices  of Sex Reversed Seeds

• Fry must not be more than 17 days old.
• The correct hormone dose is 4–5 mg and feed must have high palatability (25%–45% protein)
• Feed tilapia between three and six times daily
• Make sure the fish do not show any signs of disease
• Maintain an optimal temperature <320C
• Ensure fry are of uniform size to prevent cannibalism
• Control the level of natural food
• Store hormones and hormone-treated feed at a temperature of 40C
• The optimal fry density is 1000/m2 or 12 fry/L
• Treatment duration should take a minimum of 21–28 days for more reliable sex-reversed success
• After treatment, there should be a few fries under 14 mm in size. However, if more than 5% of the fry are 13 mm or smaller, remove those fry because 25% of them could be females.

Fry grading

• Large differences in size imply different consumption patterns and additional competition for food in nursing and grow-out ponds in which the winners are the larger fish.

It is best to grade the fish 2 times:

• After hormone treatment (21 days).
• before transferring fingerlings from nursery to grow-out ponds

Fry harvesting Tips

• The number of fry per bag varies according to fry size and to distance traveled
• Avoid harvest/handling the fry at noon or at high temperatures.
  Grade the fry at harvest to accurately determine their numbers before sale or transportation
• Avoid size discrepancies that may occur at the rearing units
• Move the fry to the storage units in barrels or plastic basins, oxygenated bags and avoid overcrowding to reduce stress or loss of part of the harvest during transfer.
  The size of the counting scoop net at sale varies with the size of the fry. Count a scoop sample before packaging the fry at sales.

Nursery Phase

• Fry size is small for stocking in grow-out ponds.
• When tilapia fry have reached 1g they are raised in nursery facilities until they reach 10-50 grams fingerlings.
• Nursery phase feed conversion (FCR) is typically still close to 1.
• Stocking rates in ponds can range from 10- 50 fish/m2.

Hapa Technology

• A hapa is a cage-like, rectangular, or square net impoundment placed in a pond for holding fish for various purposes.
• Made of fine mesh netting material with mesh to prevent the escape of fry or fish.
• Sizes vary but the ideal size measures 3 m long, 3 m wide, and 1.5 m deep.
• Males are polygamous and brooders should be stocked at a density of 1 male to 3 females per meter square
• Removal of fry is by using scoop net or hand net
• Can collect the hapa and carefully catch the brooders by a wide net and collect the fry to stock it into another hapa.

Water Quality

Water quality affects fish health and survival in extreme conditions. Tilapia does well in high-quality water and the following Physico-chemical properties:

• The water quality parameters should be monitored regularly to find out the condition of the broodstock and fry and record daily per pond.
• Temperature, oxygen, ammonia, pH, suspended solids
• When water temperatures approach 30ËšC, extra water renewal is needed
• Ammonia is measured several hours after feeding. Maintain concentrations below 0.1 mg/L Since ammonia can be related to pH, higher levels of ammonia can be safe in the water with a pH of 7 but not at a pH >9
• Tilapia start to die at a nitrate concentration of 5 mg/L, and high levels of it can cause brown blood disease.
• Oxygen below 5 ppm is already sub-optimal for broodstock tilapia (200-400 gm) Air blower is needed in broodstock and fry ponds.
• In bad Water quality broodstock stop spawning and high mortality in fry ponds

2. Tigoi Fish Farm Vihiga County-Kenya

Zinath Deen is the manager of Tigoi Fish farm, which was established in 2012 in Kenya. The farm increased annual production from 120,000 to 360,000 mono sex tilapia fingerlings in hapas due to Aquaculture Compact intervention, and increased annual income from USD 16,649 to USD 49,440 (Figure 6). Tigoi Fish farm played a great role in improving the knowledge and skills of 38 additional new fish farmers including both youth and women to scaling up Mono Sex Tilapia Technology.

3. Youth Enterprise- Ibadan Nigeria 

The fisheries enterprise of IITA Youth Agripreneurs (IYA) in Ibadan Nigeria is managed by young female entrepreneur called Ohwofasa Faith Oghenefogho. Prior to the Aquaculture Compact intervention, IYA fish enterprise has not produced tilapia since inception but only catfish production. After six months of adopting the mono-sex tilapia technology, the farm produced 10,000 mono sex tilapia fingerlings and earned additional income of USD 625. Besides boosting their If you are interested to start your business in fish production through Mono Sex Tilapia technology, please contact the following institutions and people: Prof. Fregene Bernadette (World Fish): [email protected] If you want to learn more about Aquaculture, please visit the following sites: www.worldfishcenter.org This outreach promotional material is developed by Prof. Bernadette Fregene (WorldFish), Prof. Paul Bolorunduro (NAERLS-Nigeria), Olaniyi Ajibola (WorldFish), Dr. Samson Eshetu (AFAAS), Krishan Bheenick (FARA), Karen Munoko (FARA) and Benjamin Abugri (FARA) through the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) Programme of the Feed Africa initiative funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB). benefits from the intervention, the enterprise contributed in provision of training and improving knowledge and skills of more than 30 youths including new entrepreneurs on mono sex Tilapia fingerlings production. Currently, through scaling up of the technology, the trained youths were able to start a new business for production of mono sex tilapia for consumption using cage culture production system

Importance Of A Business Plan To The Business Owners

• • It serves as Road Map that clarifies the direction for implementing business goals and objectives.
  • It helps in obtaining financing for the business
  • It shows the vision of a business enterprise and helps in setting targets for achieving them.
  • It forms a basis to compare the actual results and planned results of a business in order to investigate the differences and take corrective measures.
  • It shows the cost and revenue analysis as well as the profitability and viability analysis of a business.
  • A research tool that helps the business owner to discover more about every aspect of the business

Importance Of A Business Plan To The Business Promoters

• A medium for informing prospective investors and bankers and also provides a yardstick against which both the management and investors will monitor the success achieved.
• It helps the business promoters to understand the business more.
• A business plan can give an idea of the potential impacts of the business on society.
• It helps to determine the possibility of loan repayment.

Stakeholders interested in farm business plan

1. 1. The management team – roadmap or blueprint for the actualization of organizational goals and objective
   2. Equity providers (Investors) – demonstration of ability to generate acceptable profit levels (return on investment) over  time 
   3. Debt providers(Bankers and other financiers)-ability of business  to repay principal and interest and strategy to deal with financial risk
   4. Government and regulatory agencies – Could be used to apply incentives (Duty waivers, subsidy, price support)  or regulation

What an agribusiness plan should address

The agribusiness plan should address the following basic issues :

• Financial - Can the business make a profit
• Marketing - Is there a market? How much can you sell?
• Management - Does the management team have the skill?.

The presentation quality and financial analysis is crucial  if an Agribusiness plan is to be used to raise money from outside  but could be less formal if being used internally 

Basic question Agribusiness plan should answer

• Who are the customers?
• How many are there?
• How do we reach them?
• Why are we in business?
• Do we produce for a commodity or specialty market?
• What is the status of our business (ie start-up, expansion, takeover, etc)?

The Cover Page

    Business Plan

            FOR

BUSINESS NAME/ PURPOSE

Prepared by:
Name:
Address Line 1:
Address Line 2:
Telephone(s):  
E-Mail:
Date:  

• Executive Summary 
• Business Overview
• Marketing Plan 
• Production/Operation Plan 
• Organisational And Management Plan 
• Financial Plan
• Business Risk And Mitigating Factor

 

List of Tables

• Equipment depreciation table
• Sales forecast
• Cost forecast
• Operating expenses
• Profit and loss account
• Cash flow plan
• Sensitivity analysis

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• • This is usually written last and should be a maximum of one page containing the following:
  • The proposed business name
  • Area of Specialization
  • The Target market
  • The Opportunity and Value Proposition
  • Brief description of products
  • How much have you invested into the business (if existing)
  • The start-up or expansion capital estimation
  • How much are you contributing as your equity and how much will you source for a loan?
  • If applying for a loan, what will you use the loan for, and what is your repayment plan (tenor, rate, moratorium period, and other conditions)?
  • The anticipated sales turnover, gross profit, and net profit after tax.
  • What are the risks of the business and how do you intend to mitigate them?

What is the benefit of your business to society?

Description of the business

• The name of our business is
• We are (or will be) located at
• What do you specialize in?
• Mention your target market.

1.2 Vision and Mission Statement

• Vision statement “ the future expectation of the business
• Mission statement “ the purpose of the business

1.3 Business Objective(s) (your short term goals with a specific time of accomplishment)

1. On sales turnover
2. On additional branches
3. On customer base
4. On staff salary
5. On staff strength

1.4  Critical Success Factors of the Business are:

List those factors that will contribute to the success of the business

Current Status of business

For startups;

• What do you have in place?
• What do you want to put in place?
• Equipment, rent, installations, fixings, registration, training, e.t.c
• Proposed commencement date.

For existing business;

• Business profile
• Are you expanding and diversifying?
• What do you have in place?
• What do you want to put in place?

2.1 Description of the products

Name your products and describe them one after the other.

2.2 Opportunity and Value proposition

• Opportunity
• the needs you want to meet
• the gaps you want to fill
• Value proposition
• The difference you are bringing in

2.3 Target market 

Make a list of your target market

2.5 Promotional Strategies

3.1 Description of location and factory

3.2 Raw materials/Consumables needed and supplies

3.2a List of raw materials

3.2b List of consumables

Equipment Depreciation Table

3.4 Production / Service Process and techniques

Write the process of production following step by step approach

3.5 Product/ production costing and capacity details
  Product 1: Cost of……………………… (Volume/Qty) of…………………….

3.6 Pricing Strategy

• What pricing strategies will you adopt and why?

3.7 Record/Stock Control Process

• (a)Methods of Record Keeping to be adopted 
• 3.7(b) Record Keeping documents

3.7b What method of inventory do you want to invent? (FIDO, LIFO, FEFO)

3.7d: Opening Stock

Organizational and Management Plan

4.1  Ownership structure of the business

Form of business ownership

Why did you adopt this

4.2  Profile of the Promoter(s)

The vocational training

The entrepreneurship training

The internship

The exposures

Experience

Academic qualifications

4.3 Details of Employees

• Working conditions – how many days, how many hours per day, resumption time, public holidays

4.4 Details of Salary Schedule

Financial Plan: Gross Margin Analysis  

• Adequate record-keeping is the building block for a good financial plan
• To determine the profitability of an enterprise using gross margin:  This is calculated as follows:
• Output from  Enterprise A - Variable Costs for A = Gross Margin of Enterprise-A
• Output from Enterprise B - Variable Costs for B = Gross Margin of Enterprise B
• Gross Margin of enterprise A + Gross Margin of enterprise B = Total Farm Gross Margin
• Total Farm Gross Margin .- Farm's Fixed Costs = Farm's Profit

F-Step Ltd 

Seun Ogidan, the CEO of F-Step Ltd trained under ENABLE-TAAT established 30 hectares of cassava for stem multiplication and root production and 10ha of maize in Osun State. In April 2019, the Nigerian Agricultural Seed Council certified her company for seeds (cassava stems) distributions to farmers in Nigeria. Nigeria. F-Step has employed 5 full time staff.

Agribusiness Park approach and initiative

Agribusiness Park Approach is one of the business approached used by the compact to create a sort of ‘soft-take’ stage for the businesses. The trained youths are organized into 4-5 persons per cluster, given a common resource or facility to work and establish their businesses. The compact also provide initial operational fund support which is ploughed back after each cycle and strengthen input and market linkage. The project provides technical back-stopping to each clusters and likewise the clusters also serves as mentors to new trainees.