Comparative Profit and Adoption of Maggot Feed by Catfish Farmers for Production

Due to the very high cost of Fish feed, Fish Farmers in Port Harcourt, Nigerian are resorting to using black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens L.), popularly called maggot to supplement the commercial fish feed. This study, using the quasi-experimental research design, anchored on the innovative theory of profit, evaluated the profit potential of using maggot feed only, as against using commercial feed in fish farming. Using a randomize sampling, field trial of catfish feeding was conducted with a total of 156 catfishes divided into six (6) groups: commercial feed group in three replicates and black soldier fly larvae (BSFL/maggot) feed group also in three replicates. Each tank held 26 catfishes and contained 500-700 liters of water. In the three trials of catfish fed with commercial feed of total of 78, about 73% or 57 out of 78 grew from an average weight of 780g to reached over 1kg (1000g) over a 90-day period. About 45% of those fed with BSFL or 35 out of 78 grew from 780g to reach over 1kg (1000g). An average of 36kg of commercial feed were consumed by each of three groups of catfishes with commercial feeds at a cost of N1,333 per kg, resulting in total cost N47,988 for each of these three groups of commercially fed fishes. On the other hand, an average of 45kg of BSFL were consumed by each of the three catfish groups at the cost of N550 per kg, resulting in total cost of N24,750 per group. Mean selling price of fish fed with commercial feed ranged from N3,717 to N3,897 with total profit ranged of N48,672 to N53,352. On the other and the mean selling price of catfish fed with BSFL ranged from N 2,943 to N 2,950 while its total profit ranged from N54,042 to N54,774. The study concluded that the African catfish (Claria Gariepinus) could be farmed profitably with the Maggot/BSFL meal only. It is thus recommended that farmers could use 100% BSFL feed to grow their catfish from 780g to table size of 1kg and still make reasonable profit.