The Brazilian aquacultureis the second (Chile is the first one) in South American production, supportedbasically by production chains of shrimp and tilapia culture. Brazil produced,in 2007, 95691.0 tons of tilapia, representing 45% of the continental aquaculture.Aquaculture from small and medium producers has shown in recent years changeson farming systems. By the end of the 90s, it was based on semi-intensive pondsand dams. From the year 2000, tilapia culture in cages highlighted, especiallyin Union waters (large reservoirs and hydroelectric dams in the Northeast Region).This change led to changes in the production chain, because adequate inputsto the system is needed: special diets, genetic material compatible with therearing phases and production flow, since the new system has a higher scaleof production. The agro-industrial system of fish covers two distinct productionsystems: a fishery system (extraction) and aquaculture (production system).Some links in this system are shared by both systems, but food and genetic materialare exclusive of aquaculture. Both systems interact with processing, distributionand marketing, and often compete with each other. Currently, Brazil has geneticallyimproved strains, continuous process improvement and adaptation to our conditions.The activity of tilapia culture has increased through a process of professionalization,where the producer is closer to the used management and inputs. Today, producerscan choose the input that best fits the management practices, but this is nota common practice when considering price.
