Feed formulation is an integral part of catfish farming business, especially in tropical Africa. This is due to the fact that imported fish feeds are always expensive due to the cost of logistics on importation and weak local currency, making the cost of such products skyrocket.
The environment in Africa allows individual farmers to formulate feed for their fishes in order to reduce the cost of feed production and also to enjoy flexibility in choice of feed ingredients for feed formulation. It has been observed that majority of catfish farmers have little or no knowledge of this aspect of their business. As a result of this, many gamble and some even depend on the judgment/choice of their feed millers who are ready to exploit them for the purpose of making more profit. Little wonder that some farmers fail at this critical point.