DAR ES SALAAM, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Six young aquatic and fisheries science graduates from Tanzania's leading state-run university have joined hands to save fish farmers from the headache of finding suitable fish feeds.

"By transforming organic waste from food, rotten vegetables and fruits using black soldier fly to produce larvae that can be used as protein ingredients for fish feed is like killing two birds with one stone," said 25-year-old Arnold Shoko, a co-founder of Samaki Farms.

"We offer ingredients to fish farmers at the same time we are conserving the environment," he said.

Samaki Farms is an initiative founded in July 2021 by the six Bachelor of Science Degree graduates in aquatic sciences and fisheries technology at the School of Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Technology of University of Dar es salaam (UDSM). They are aged between 23 and 25.

According to Shoko, currently, the company operating in the compound of the School of Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Technology of the UDSM at Kunduchi on the outskirts of the commercial capital Dar es Salaam, is transforming organic waste into more protein feed ingredients for fish growth using black soldier fly which decomposes organic waste substrates into organic manure and returns nutrients into the soil.

According to him, the organic wastes are collected from households, markets, and landfills. "Doing so the company helps to control the accumulation of wastes in the environment but also ensures cheaply available protein ingredients for fish feeds for the fish farmers."

Samaki Farms is addressing the shortage of feed ingredients for fish feeds in Tanzania, said Shoko, adding that fish feeds contribute up to 60 percent of the whole production costs in fish farming, and Samaki Farms seeks to produce fish feed that cost less.

"We opted for sustainable and eco-friendly ingredients that could not pollute our environment. But also we were looking at cost-effectiveness (in) that it has to be cheaper by lowering the cost of production to fish farmers," he said.

"We are getting a lot of feedback from customers and some are not even fish farmers. They are poultry keepers demanding our products. But we currently cannot meet the demand. We are trying to produce more to meet the market demand," he said.

He said the biggest challenge that Samaki Farms is facing is the lack of machinery for mass production of the protein feed ingredients and complete fish feeds, adding that the company was working on securing appropriate machines.

Samaki Farms has approached the UDSM Innovation and Entrepreneurship Council for incubation to help it communicate the science it is doing to the world of business and marketing.

"In one word the future is awesome," said Shoko, adding that the future is to have an industry for producing complete fish feeds to help fish farmers in Tanzania.

Globally 30 percent of food for consumption goes to waste, said Shoko, adding: "If we can use the food waste as raw materials to what we are doing now, we can protect and conserve the environment in a big way." Enditem

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