It is reported that fish contributes 70% of the animal protein intake in Malawi. This maybe currently lower as per capita fish consumption is reported to have declined by 58% from 14 kg/person/year in the 1970s to 8.12 kg/person/year in 2014. The situation is posing a serious national nutrition problem if not put under control. This led Malawi Government and other stakeholders to promote fish farming to supplement fish from capture fisheries on the market. Currently Malawi Development Cooperation (MALDECO) Aquaculture is a prominent commercial aquaculture company in Malawi with just above 6,000 small-scale farmers. Feed is a challenge due to high prices of soybean and imported fishmeal. Most fish small-scale farmers use maize bran to feed their fish and this is nonviable as it results in low yield and abandonment of fish farming by most farmers.
This study seeks to provide information in search of a solution to address feed challenges in the fish sector. Literature review was conducted on approaches being used by fish farmers and current efforts to resolve these and used to outline the road map for solving livestock feed challenges at household level in Malawi. It was observed that through use of waste from farm yard, farmers can culture insects which have high protein content than soybean and highly digestible than fish meal. Insects can deal with environmental pollution by utilising waste. Incorporation of insect meal in fish feed can replace soybean and fish meal hence turning around fish industry in Malawi by making it more productive. The dream of making fish products adequately available on market may rely on potential of incorporating insect meal in fish feed.
Insect inclusion in fish feed has a potential of increasing fish consumption per capita in Malawi hence food security. However, challenges to solve are food acceptancy, food safety issues and legislation which can be dealt with by coordination of government, industry and academia.
Keywords: livestock feed, food security, aquaculture