These are fish that can be raised in the backyard or by agro-industrial companies, grow fast on either natural grazing or formulated feeds, and are acceptable to both rich and poor consumers.
Few species match tilapias in terms of their potential to become the cultured fish of the future.
A range of systems is suitable for tilapia, from low input pond and paddy fields to intensive production in feedlot cages and tanks. Commercial systems now exist in fresh, brackish and full-strength seawaters and, although most tilapia are farmed in Asia, production is soaring in the Americas and expanding in Africa. Just as improved germplasm, nutrition, and health management characterized the development of commercial broiler chickens, so too have these issues become major concerns of agribusiness aiming to diversify into tilapias. And international agencies, seeing tilapia farming as a convenient and reliable basis for rural development, have sought to research simple farming systems, identify new approaches to avoid over-breeding and develop faster growing strains to improve opportunities for poorer people. Tilapias, as with chickens, breed easily and their culture has not been constrained by seed production per se.