Uganda, April 28 -- The government, working with local researchers, has started an initiative to produce fish feeds from local materials to enable the country to increase aquaculture production from the current 120,000 metric tons to 1,000,000 metric tons by 2030.

The aquaculture industry currently faces significant challenges, especially in terms of feeds, which contribute to 70 percent of the operating cost. Most farmers are using fish meal as the main feed and other imported feeds associated with high costs, inaccessibility, and quality deterioration due to customs delays. Fish meal costs around Shs9,000 per kilogram.

A research by the Monitor found that high costs eat into profits, slow expansion and discourage farmers from ent...