Tilapia is the second most farmed fish in world; even then its production is in India is meagre. Now, it is felt that Tilapia can be one of the promising candidate species which could be cultured to address the food security in general and can act as a cheap protein source of the growing population in particular. The National committee on Introduction of Exotic aquatic species in Indian waters approved the import of Nile tilapia in 2006. Nile tilapia can be cultured in accordance with the guideline issued and after obtaining license and registration to farms. In bio secured farms, the culture of ‘all male’ or ‘hybrid’ Nile tilapia is permitted so as to avoid/ arrest prolific breeding during culture period. The ‘Genetically improved farmed Tilapia (GIFT)’or ‘Chitralada’ or ‘Big Nin’ or ‘Nam Sai’ strains of Nile tilapia is proposed for farming in pond/ farm with sufficient bio-security measures in order to ensure non escape of the biological material from the farm to any natural open waters even during flood. The standard design specifies the minimum requirement of bund height, water management systems and other bio-security measures will be followed for farming.

Nile tilapia farming using genetically improved all male population any of the above strain will be practised in bio-secured pond which have a minimum area of 0.2 ha (50 Cents). The stocking density of seed will be 30,000/ha. The unit cost calculated for establishing tilapia culture in bio secured pond having an area of 1 ha is about Rs.12 lakh which include Rs.3.4 lakh for infrastructure development and Rs.8.6 lakh for operational expenses. There is a grant @ 40% of unit cost for newly developed farm and @ 20% of the operational cost for the already developed farms