Invested in aquaculture twice. Once in Australia to farm and process salmons and another is the infamous tilapia using HDPE.

Both turned out to be a bigger disaster.

I'll skip the details on the salmon project as its a very long story.

The tilapia project, all I can say is you MUST know what the heck you're doing. The simple answer you are looking for is most likely whether does it make money. Then the simple answer to it is yes it can make money but no where near as much as those who pushes the idea tells you. If you have to pay rent for the land then you will be making as little as RM.50 per fish if you sell to middleman. Also if I'm not mistaken now in order to be a licensed breeder and farm you do need to first go for one of the few government approved courses.

Issues to consider? Do you own the land? Can you easily get permits to operate such an operation else you can expect to pay plenty of donations to the police and local councils.

Your next hurdle, can you get power to that land, if no then you will have to be a registered business operating from that piece of land else you won't be able to buy fuel for your generators, not easily at least and you can definitely expect some hefty fines if you are caught buying fuel in containers. Oh yes the electric usage is high, the 4 acre setup I used that ran purely on diesel generators used around RM7,000 worth of diesel each month until we had issues with KPDNKK that refused to renew our permission to purchase fuel from petrol stations.

Then assuming you have power and land sorted out your next hurdle will be where you are planning to get water. This will make or break your business. River water? You run the risk of bacteria and your products will have that bad soil taste. SYABAS? Well you have to PAY. Best? Rain water harvesting but you must treat it if your area if prone to acid rain. Then there is the issue of discharging the water. No proper discharge system? Can be done but do expect to pay donations to JAS.

Oh yeah when it comes to enforcement do expect plenty of "RnR' if you don't hold the same "kulitficatiion" as the enforcer......pandai pandai on this.

Now that you've set it up, how are you going to manage it?

You will need at least 6 workers per acre minimum. Also reared 12 dogs as well who will be your best of friends. Easier to find good dogs than good workers. When it comes to this, best ones are the Nepalese and Burmese, the rest requires a lot of supervision. The worst?? Malay, Indonesian and Orang Asli.

There are 2 types of Tilapias, Red and Black. Black ones mainly for processing and export. Cost much more to produce as it requires 4kg of feed in its lifetime assuming 900g net weight. Red tilapia cheaper to produce but plenty of people producing.

Bacteria and diseases are big issues with these farms. Hence good practices include plenty of quarantine and batching, not just of the fry but also of the water especially if you are using river water.

Feed makes all the difference, good ones with high protein content don't come cheap these days.

Finally, who are you planning to sell to and who will do the selling? Easiest? Middleman take all but expect to earn very little. Selling on your own? Possible as well but RnR is a big issue when it comes to this. You will need to be a darn good salesman for this as the market is very full with suppliers and very few are generally willing to change suppliers especially if it is for live ones.

Why I exited it? My 2 partners wanted to diversify and I preferred remaining as just the landlord. Which brings up another point, most of these farms can no longer survive just by being a fish farm, many are diversifying into other products chief among which are Udang Galah, Keli, Patin and some are also breeding the fry as well as some are breeding it to be processed into fishmeal. Some are also using the discharge water to plant vegetables hydroponically and some are using the water as well as sludge for banana and various fruit plantations. One I know even does a homestay and another operates it as part of a tahfiz.

To be frank, the increasing and worsening RnR issues was part of the reason why we packed our bags to leave.

Macam mana to farm? Hence why I said either you do it by the book and have a very clear market in mind or backdoor and plenty of donations along the way. You will make money but to me for that amount of money the returns simply didn't justify the means.

Corruption is killing the country far more than Covid-19, its the main reason why one of the main focus China had when Xi Jing Ping came to power was curbing or at least significantly reducing bribery and corruption. The effects of it are now quite visible as everything works in China and most things work very well or excellently.

Tilapias at home, it is fairly easy to do in a 3x6 tank. I think you could buy them from most aquarium shops for under RM500 inclusive of the filter box. Add around RM2-300 more for the pumps and a good idea to add a battery backup pump. You can then connect the pumps to a hydroponic growing system, either a pre-made one or build them off your own 3" pipes and net cups. Can be done if you have an area that has at least 2 hours of sunlight each day else you need LED grow lamps. I know someone that does does in a yard of a condo, produces enough vegetables for his family of 5.

These type of ventures, it is best you leave it to an established consultant if you don't know what you are doing. There are people out there that you could engage to give you a turnkey project and it will work out cheaper and more profitable in the long run to pay a bit more upfront.

There are reasons why in Malaysia it isn't advisable to have all sorts of farm animals in one place. Chief among which are disease control.

The real prize these days for those "rich man hobby farms" are permaculture ones, there is a video series on YouTube called Back To Eden Gardening method, tried it before with some varying success rates but in the end decided these are hobbies to pursue after I have retired and have all the time in the world.

Shanghai.

Convert jadi plastic recycling factory

Bees are a good thing. Many people are farming bees as well especially stingless or kelutut bees......bloody expensive hobby it is.

This is definitely a venture that could cause you to "habis everything"

I should have added, when I ventured into it, the setup I bought was from an operation that "habis everything" and I found a piece of land I wanted to buy to squat on as I had info it was in the masterplan to have a highway running on it.

That isn't true, many restaurants are generally reluctant to buy from any new operators or from anyone they don't already know. Quality and consistency concerns mainly.

Not young enough

You got to venture and try for yourself sometimes.

To many, the agriculture operation is indeed just something to sit and squat on the land. Once converted or better yet acquired by government for infra projects, that's where you can make some real money.