Improving health and distribution of Haitian Tilapia

Today IDH and Taino announced to improve health management and distribution of tilapia in Haiti. In the project, vaccinations are used to improve the health of the fish. Lower disease losses result in a lower need of (expensive and imported) feed, and consequently reduce negative environmental impacts. The project will also improve distribution channels, to increase high quality and affordable fish to reach local markets in Haiti. This will also result in the creation of local jobs.

There is a need for sustainable local produced protein food in Haiti. The country currently imports more than 50% of its foods, whereas in the 1980s only 19% was imported. IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative and Taino Aqua Ferme (TAF) expect Haitian aquaculture to become the local provider of affordable, sustainable and local high protein food.

The Aquaculture industry in Haiti began in the 1950s by stocking fish in rivers, lakes and irrigation canals. In the 1960s, more than 4000 ponds were built in various regions. Fish farming weakened in Haiti after the 1970s due to different challenges but revived from 2006 onwards on a very small scale. IDH and TAF aim to boost the industry again, beginning with this project.

The cages on Lake Azuei

Taino Aqua Ferme

Hans Wooley, the CEO of Taino Aqua Ferme – “We view aquaculture as the next major pillar in local food production and an emerging new sector that has the potential to significantly contribute to economic development on the national stage. We’re excited to work with IDH towards those ends.”

Taino Aqua Ferme (TAF) is the market leader of tilapia in Haiti. Their fish grow out on Lake Azuei, in the east of the country. Taino operates a hatchery, nursery, grow-out, processing plant and several distribution points. The company has the potential to become a hub for SMEs and outgrowers to also farm fish, whereby TAF can provide: training on how to farm fish; high-quality fingerlings; high-quality feed; process and distribution facilities.

IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative

Flavio Corsin, program director Aquaculture at IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative: “Our focus is to develop more efficient and sustainable food production systems to feed a growing global population. This project allows us to deliver on that, in a country where efficient food production is most needed.”

IDH brings together businesses, companies, governments and NGOs to combine their interests and power in sustainable production and trade of tropical commodities. We convene, (co-)finance and manage large programs to accelerate transitions toward sustainability. Headquartered in the Netherlands and funded by different governments and foundations, IDH delivers scalable, economically viable impact on the Sustainable Development Goals. IDH operates globally in 12 different industry sectors ranging from coffee and tea to cotton and soy, and encourages joint investment in innovative models to realize long-term solutions for environmentally and socially sustainable production.

Since 2010 IDH is orchestrating change towards responsible aquaculture. We co-founded the ASC together with WWF and accelerated ASC certification. We upgraded 630.000 MT, an equivalent of 250 Olympic swimming pools, of tilapia, shrimp and pangasius production towards sustainability.

More info

Please reach out to vanWageningen@idhtrade.org or HWoolley@gmail.com.