Snail-based alternative fish feed to halve fish production costs

High prices of commercial fish feed have pushed small commercial farmers to look for alternatives, and a farmer in Mymensingh has successfully developed snail-based feed, which reduces fish production costs to almost half.

Fish farmer Md Abu Reza Mahbubul Haque Shahin of Muktagacha has become the pioneer in preparing snail-based fish feed. 

Shrimp enclosures in coastal districts in the country’s southwest region have been using snail meat as shrimp food for long, but the feed developed by Mahbubul contains the whole snail.

He became successful in farming native fish species, such as catfish, with the snail-based feed.

Mahbubul said snail-based feed has huge potential if it could be popularised among all fish farmers as it reduces fish production costs.

A kilogramme of fish feed is now sold at Tk 18 to Tk 20 in the market, but a kilogramme of snail-based fish feed costs almost half, Tk 11, he said.

One day, he noticed that fishes cultivated in one of his ponds were unusually well-nourished, which
prompted him to look for the reason. He found snail parts in the stomachs of those fishes.

Discussing with scientists at Bangladesh Agricultural University, he collected snails, made snail-based feed, and fed that to his fishes. The result was good.

Since then, he has been feeding snail-based feed to his fishes, reducing production costs. Now he feeds snail-based feed to 50 per cent of his fishes.

He said fishes fed with snail-based feed also taste better. He now has a snail farming project to produce fish feed on his farm.

Traditionally, dried fish is used as a source of protein in fish farming in Bangladesh, which is comparatively costly and often contains harmful chemicals for long-time preservation.

Dr Mohammad Mahfujul Haque, a professor of aquaculture at Bangladesh Agriculture University in Mymensingh, said 70 per cent of the fish farming cost goes to fish feed.

He said farmers would get more profit if feed costs could be reduced, stressing the need for popularising snail-based alternative fish feed.

The price of one kilogramme of snail-based feed is about Tk 11.5, including the costs of rice husks, mustard oil cake (khail), snail powder, vitamin, salt, workers’ pay, and machine charges.

If farmers use the feed made of snails, the import of meat and bone for making fish feed will reduce and money can be saved, said Mahfujul.

For making snail-based fish feed, fresh snails are collected and mixed with rice husks and then powdered by a feed pellet machine. The mixture is dried in the sun and crushed again by a khail grinding machine. The final powder is the fish feed.

Mahfujul said snail meat is used as food in shrimp enclosures in Khulna, Bagherhat, Jashore, Satkhira, and Narail, and they need 65.5 kg snail meat per hectare a day on average. 

Around 15,000 people, women and men, are directly involved in snail picking in those districts and get Tk 350 to Tk 400 per day for four to five hours of work during the season, he said, indicating possible job
opportunities in heliculture.

Mahfujul said heliculture could be a profitable business as it is a popular cuisine among the Mongoloid people.

“People in different parts of the world also consume snails. Freshwater apple snails are in great demand worldwide as they contain high protein, fat, vitamin, and mineral.”

In a 120-decimal pond, 2,000 kilogrammes of snail can be harvested in 45 days, said the expert.

He added that 250 grammes of dung, 250 grammes of khail, and 100 grammes of urea mixed with compost should be sprinkled in every decimal of space for three consecutive days as food for snails.