Farmers face feed shortage

 THE National Fisheries Authority (NFA) says Papua New Guinea is experiencing a shortage of feed for farmers involved in the aquaculture industry.

Executive manager for aquaculture and inland fisheries Jacob Wani said the NFA lacked the basic ingredients for feed to help, barramundi and talapia farmers.

He was responding to calls by a trout farmer in Southern Highlands for NFA to address the issue after his trout stock went without feed for some time.

Berry Mini raised the concern, adding he was at a risk of losing his fish stock after six months without feed. 

Wani said Trukai Industries and Tablebirds, which were the main producers of livestock feed were not releasing their ingredients due to market demand in poultry and piggery.

The livestock feed is made from rice grain, wheat grain, copra meal, fish meal and vitamins.

“Problem with feed in this country is scarcity of ingredients because of the LNG project. Trukai and Tablebirds have their own livestock interests in poultry and piggery. 

“That’s the major constraint as National Fisheries Authority buys ingredients from them (Trukai and Tablebirds).

“I don’t see how we can overcome that but for high value species like trout, farmers may need to import at high prices. 

“Trout is a carnivorous species, its feeds on high protein diet, which means a trout needs a high percentage of fishmeal.

“A kilogram of fishmeal currently costs K8-K10.

“NFA is looking at how it can decrease the trout feed cost.

“We are talking to tuna canneries not to off load fishmeal, their by-products, to global markets at (K3000 a tonne),” he said.