Monitoring the nutritional value of feed components for aquaculture along the supply chain – an East African case study

摘要

Constraintsinthesupplywithhigh-qualityfeedconstituteamainobstacleforthedevelopmentofaquacultureinSub-SaharanAfricancountries.Thenutritionalqualitybothofcommerciallymanufacturedfishfeedandofdietsproducedon-sitebyfishfarmers,dependonthequalityoffeedingredientsused.Thisstudywasconductedinordertocollectinformationaboutthenutrientcontentofselectedfeedcomponentsatdifferentpointsofthesupplychain.Additionally,thenutrientcompositionofcommercialfishfeedswasanalyzedforacomparisonwiththeirlabelednutrientcontents.Forfish,fishmeal,cottonseedcake,sunflowerseedcakeandmaizebransampleswerecollectedatlandingsites,oilmills,millingsites,storesandshopsintheLakeVictoriaregionofUgandaandKenya,andweresubjectedtoproximateanalysis.Thecostsperunitofproteinoffeedingredientswerealsoestimated.nbsp;Theresultsofthepresentstudyshowthatseriousadulterationoccurredbetweentheprimaryoutletandthestoreorshoplevel.Themainadulterationmaterialmostprobablywassand.Thedeteriorationofthenutritionalvalueoffeedingredientscoincideswiththecompositionofthecommercialfishfeedsbeingsubstantiallybelowthevalueslabeled;thisalsoaffectstherelativecostsperunitofnutrient.Itisrecommendedthatwheneverpossible,ingredientsshouldbepurchasedfromlandingsitesandoilmillsforfish(meal)andoilseedcakes,respectively,inordertogetfairlyaccuratelyformulatedfeedsforfishfarms.Itshouldalsobenotedthatthereducedfeedingvalueiscoincidingwithincreasingmarketpricesalongthesupplychain,leadingtoadisproportionateincreaseinrelativecostsperunitofnutrient.Itisthereforesuggestedthatasetofmeasuresshouldbedevelopedtoassurefeedquality.Strategicsamplingandregularfeedanalysiscanbeimplementedimmediatelyinordertoimprovethesituationespeciallyforsmall-scalefishproducerswhorelyonpurchasedfeedorfeedingredients.