PezCo Aquafarming has partnered up with the largest Colombian tilapia farmer, Piscicola Botero, and currently imports around 70 metric tons of tilapia per month to the United States market from what Botero produces.

Piscicola Botero farms Nile, or black, tilapia in artificial reservoirs and independent land based lake systems with recirculating water.

The reservoir is  located at the confluence of the Magdalena River and the Yaguará River where fish are raised in biosecure floating enclosures, while the land based lake systems are located in valleys irrigated by fresh water springs from the Andean Cordilleras.

The Betania Reservoir area produces more than 50 percent of the tilapia production nationwide. In addition to Best Acuaculture Practices certifications, all aquaculture activity in reservoirs and lakes is managed and restricted by the Colombian government.

Botero's production is completely integrated with optimal farming practices throughout the entire operation, from hatchery to processing.

Click here to see the photos from IntraFish's exclusive tour of the farms in Colombia.

Botero growth plans

Pisicola Botero and its integrated partner farms in Huila, produces around 600 tons of live fish per month and is hoping to ramp this up to 750 metric tons per month next year through integrating and constructing more land based operations.

Efrain Botero, CEO and founder of the company, told IntraFish, he had already purchased 450 acres of land which he plans to invest $4 million (€3.2 million) to $5 million (€4 million) turning into land based lakes over the next couple of years.

"In the next two years I expect our production to reach 1,000 metric tons per month," he said. "We already have the land and the machinery it is just a case of developing the land."

Botero  currently has six land based farms -- of which only two are producing at the moment -- and 92 pens in the reservoir. But growth in the reservoir is limited as it is operated under concessions awarded by the government, so the plan now is to turn the attention to land.

"At the moment production is split by about 60 percent in the reservoir and 40 percent on land, said Botero. "But next year we want this to be at least 50/50 or even 55 percent on land and 45 percent in the reservoir. We are moving the priority to land because there is more control over production and sustainability. And we cannot grow anymore in the reservoir."

Pisicola Botero is ASC-certified and in the process of gaining BAP certification as well, and places special emphasis on corporate social responsibility, educating, feeding and housing its staff on site.

PezCo sources all its fish for export from Botero, and the company's growth means PezCo and its other customers will never be in short supply of product.

Hatchery

Piscicola Botero, and its integrated farm partners, source all their black tilapia fingerings from Piscicola Penjamo.

Piscicola Penjamo is BAP-certified, and has reproduction sites, a hatchery, nursery, and is able to produce two million fingerlings per month, according to Carlos Tovar, general manager at the company.

From a broodstock of 3,600 females and 1,200 males, Tovar is able to get 30-40 litres of eggs per month. The eggs are hatched at the farm's laboratory and then grown to around 4 grams in the lakes before being transported to the nearby farms. The whole process takes about a month. Piscicola Penjamo has 6 acres of water and 38 ponds.

San Isidro Farm

One of Piscicola Botero’s six integrated inland farms, and one of the two operating, is San Isidro. San Isidro currently has 17 lakes in 22 acres of land, but has a further 100 acres under development. At the moment the farm produces around 90 metric tons per month, but this expected to increase to 230 metric tons in the future.

Currently the site has 4 reversion lakes, 4 pre-fattening lakes and 9 fattening lakes, but with the extra land, this can easily increase fourfold in the future, according to Alejandro Mendez, general manager at the farm.

The farm is also in the process of constructing the third on land recirculation system in Colombia. The project has seen an investment of $5 million (€4 million), Mendez said.

La Esmeralda farm

One other farm owned by Botero, is La Esmeralda. It is has the largest single land based pond of around 6.5 acres, said Botero. In total, La Esmeralda is also producing 90 metric tons meaning the two fully operational land based farms account for 180 metric tons of Botero's 600 metric ton production. The remaining 420 metric tons come from the Betania reservoir.

The Betania Reservoir and additional hatcheries

Piscicola Botero was the first producer in Colombia to start farming tilapia in the Betania Reservoir before expanding into the land based lake systems.

The Betania  reservoir is  located at the confluence of the Magdalena River and the Yaguará River where fish are raised in biosecure floating enclosures. The area produces more than 50 percent of the tilapia production nationwide.

Piscicola Botero and it's integrated partner farms have 92 cages on the reservoir from where it produces the 420 metric tons per month of black tilapia.

Additionally, Piscicola Botero owns two islands on the reservoir, one of 4.5 acres and one of 22 acres, where it has hatcheries and ponds for red tilapia fingerlings. Between both hatcheries, they produce 6 million fingerlings per month of red tilapia.

During harvesting, all fish are transported live from the enclosures to the processing plant in trucks with iced tanks capable of transporting three metric tons.