July | August

Feature heading: Feed Management

Feature title: Global challenges
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Feed Management ACQUACOLTURA MED 2009
Mediterranean Expo-Conference on Sustainable Aquaculture & Seafood

Verona (Italy), 22 - 23 October 2009

Global Challenges GROWING THE FISH VALUE CHAIN
FROM INNOVATION TO MARKET

D
irect and practices, including the use of feeds as
i n d i r e c t delivery systems for enhancing survival
nutritional and growth, and how management of the
inputs, such as culture environment across the continents
aquafeeds and fertilizers, are used to optimise or improve the value
into aquaculture produc- and costs of feeds.
tion systems are key to This is a new section in IAF that looks
sustaining, improving and specifically at feed management on farm.
optimising fish production. The first feature is an introductory article
that presents an overall view of aquaculture
In recent years, significant and identifies some major challenges facing
progress has been made in the sector.
improving feed quality and
Professor Krishen Rana
Professor Krishen Rana is a lecturer in Sustainable
performance and in securing Global challenges facing the
Aquaculture Development at the University of Stirling,
a diverse basket of evaluated industry and primary issues
Scotland. Professor Rana joins International Aquafeed
raw ingredients for aquafeed and challenges in aquafeeds
manufacture. The biological and It is now widely recognised that to
magazine as Associate Editor - Feed Management and
economic performance of these meet rising demand for aquatic products,
Sustainability from this month.
aquafeeds in context farming aquaculture will have to meet shortfalls in
Professor Rana has a BSc in Environmental Biology
systems however, will determine predicted supply, but is aquaculture growth
from the University of London and a PhD from the
the overall acceptability and adequate to meet this challenge?
University of Stirling in aquaculture. He has worked in
affordability of aqua feeds. Data from FAO confirm that the con-
the field of aquaculture in reproduction and genetics
International Aquafeed will tribution of aquaculture to total fishery
and in aquaculture systems development for 30 years, MAIN TOPICS
develop these themes through products - excluding plants - has steady
26 of these at the Institute of Aquaculture where he has
held posts ranging from post-doctoral research fellow
sharing experiences on how increased form four percent in 1970 to • OPENING SESSION:
through research lecturer and currently lecturer.
various types of aquafeeds, account for 36 percent in 2006. a. sustainability and environment
He was seconded to FAO Fisheries Department
ranging from farm-made feeds According to FAO, the global produc- b. feed, nutrition and well-being;
for nearly five years addressing global issues on
to industrially manufactured tion from aquaculture reached 66.7 million • TECHNOLOGY FOCUS: innovative technologies in fish farming;
feeds perform at farm level tonnes in 2006.
aquaculture development including the FAO ‘Code of
and how feed management This global output, however, is signifi-
• TRADE&MARKET: processing;
Conduct on Aquaculture’ and is currently a visiting
Professor on Sustainable Aquaculture at the Division
• TRADE&MARKET: distribution and consumption.
of Genetics, Stellenbosch University in South Africa. Table 1: Growth rate of aquaculture in key regions
His research interests and activities encompass
ACQUACOLTURA MED is an event inspired by the needs of the market that focuses on the market
aspects on genetics, especially management of hatchery itself, thanks to two days of theme-based update workshops, professional networking and a show area
stocks and seed production, reproduction of warm designed to ensure meetings with buyers and qualified operators.
water species, feed management and onfarm aquafeeds For more information about attendance by sponsors and visitors: NEW TEAM - via Ghiretti 2, 43100 Parma,
and farming systems development and management of tel. 0521 293913 - Fax 0521 294036 or the internet site www.acquacoltura.info
fish for food and ornamental purposes.
Current interests include development of appropri-
ate intensification systems recirculation systems, water
management, including aquaponics and entrepreneur-
ship development in aquaculture in African countries. organized by: in cooperation with:
Professor Rana has over 25 years overseas project
experience and has authored/co-authored more than
100 publications linked to sustainable aquaculture.

40 | InternatIonal AquAFeed | July-august 09


Feed Management
Marine Raw Materials
Vegetable Raw Materials Soy Protein
TOUR2009
Good
Agricultural
The rate of growth of the sector has Practice
GLOBALG.A.P. I Nairobi I Montevideo I Kuala Lumpur I Washington, DC I Athens
shown signs of slowing down indicating
that we may be approaching the produc-
tion capacity (Table 1) under current
Fishmeal Standard Fishmeal LT Fish Oil conditions. In the last five reporting years
(2001-2006), increased production from
Thailand, Indonesia,Vietnam and Philippines
has boosted growth in Asia, but overall
Wheat Gluten Rapeseed cakes Rapeseed Oil growth rates are still slowing down whilst
aquaculture expansion has stagnated in
Europe.

What options do we have

Corn Gluten Soy cake
Other ingredients Pigment
Figure 1: Major ingredients used in aqua feed production. The supply chains and
on-farm performance of industrial and on-farm ‘made’ aquafeeds using these
ingredients will be featured in forthcoming issues
Figure 2: A breakdown of production costs of industrial feed in Europe. Raw materials
account for approximately 75 percent of the overall production cost. In 2007,
approximately 62 percent of raw material costs were for proteins and 25 percent for
oils. Even although premixes are around one percent by volume they account for 13
percent of costs
cantly influenced by China, which accounted
for 45 million - or 70 percent - of global
production in 2006 and this masks the
heterogeneity of development, and oppor-
tunities and challenges especially for the
aquafeed industry that will have to play a
Horse Beans Sunflower cake
Vitamin Premixes etc
key and increasing role in securing expected
production targets.
In the recent past (1986-2000) the average
annual global aquaculture growth rate was an
impressive 19 percent - but without China, the
annual growth achieved was only 5.5 percent.
to increase production
from aquaculture and their
implications for feeds?
Countries have two principle options:
1) increase land and water area under
culture and avail access to these resources
and, in tandem 2) intensify production
and improve productivity. Both these
approaches pose significant challenges for
the sector.
Aquaculture, which is dependent on
water either seawater or inland fresh
water and on land resources, competes
with other users for other economic
purposes such as recreation, urbanisation,
industry traditional agriculture and live-
stock, domestic and direct consumption,
and infrastructure development.
For fresh water aquaculture, access
will also be governed and limited by the
scarcity of water resource especially if
national withdrawal exceeds a quarter of
actual renewable water resources (that is
critical ratio is equal to 25 percent).
This is further complicated by the
In Collaboration with our
degree of dependency of a country on local partners FPEAK (Nairobi),
waters originating form outside their INAC (Montevideo), qa plus
(Kuala Lumpur) and Agron
national boundaries (dependency ratio). (Athens)
The high percentage water with-
drawal indicator (critical ratio) among
the leading aquaculture countries in
Asia points to a possible water limiting
factor for aquaculture development in
TOUR 2009 will be where You are!
China, India, Thailand and Japan. The
high dependency ratio indicator, for
Your opportunity to learn about latest develop- Nairobi, Kenya – 15th September 2009
Bangladesh (91 percent) and Vietnam
ments of GLOBALGAP and have an input into the Montevideo, Uruguay – 24th/25th September 2009
(60 percent) may suggest increased
Standard! Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – 14th/15th October 2009
competition from other sectors and
1. Join in and have your say on the revised content for Washington, DC, USA – 29th October 2009
countries with which they shares this
the next version of the GLOBALGAP Standard! Athens, Greece – 11th/12th November 2009
resource.
2. Deepen your knowledge by visiting on site exhibitors!
In the light of probable increased com-
3. Discover the latest news on GLOBALGAP! More Information on Programme, Fees
petition for land and water throughout
4. Explore, discuss and debate Good Agricultural and Details for Registration are available on
many major aquaculture producing coun-
Practices - risks and challenges! www.tour2009.org
tries, especially in Asia, there will inevitably
5. Network with many experts from around the world!
be increasing pressure to increase produc-
6. Visit one of our interesting destinations close to your
tion through intensification.
home country!

42 | InternatIonal AquAFeed | July-august 09

 Feed Management
BIOLOGICAL FCR
ECONOMICAL FCR
This trend is already evident.
Regards low value herbivores and
omnivores species, production is migrating
rapidly from extensive to semi-intensive
methods using low-cost farm-made aqua-
feeds. Recent global aquafeed production
and number of farms dependent on aqua-
feeds illustrate this. In 2003, global aquafeed
production was estimated at approximately
19.5 million tonnes, but expected to
increase to over 37.0 million tonnes by the
end of this decade.
Feed ingredients to
service intensification
The assured supply of raw ingredients,
at an acceptable price, quality and per-
formance, is critical for global aquaculture
expansion and therefore the issues and
challenges that influence sustainability, avail-
ability, quality, price of these ingredients and
the performance of diets using these ingre-
dients at the ‘coal front’ will be explored in
future issues.
Aquaculture is reliant on a basket of
common input ingredients, such as soy, corn,
fishmeal, fish oil, rice and wheat, for which
it competes in the market place with other
animal protein production sectors such as
beef, poultry and pork as well with direct
human consumption.
Many of these key ingredients are
traditionally used in recipes for com-
mercial or on-farm aquaculture feeds are
internationally traded commodities and
therefore aquafeed production is also
subjected to any global market shocks
and volatility.
Considerable research has been con-
44 | InternatIonal AquAFeed | July-august 09
and much of this cost
is passed on to farmers
who saw an equivalent
increase in the price of
Figure 3: The difference their feed (Figure 2).
between bFCR and eFCF
can be large and represents Irrespective of
a measure of inefficiency, whether aquafeeds are
sub-optimal performance industrial or on-farm
of production system and aquafeeds, the costs of
reduced survivability. We are feed inputs account for
challenged to reduce eFCR
50-70 percent of pro-
to bFCR through improved
management of culture duction costs.
environment and better Therefore, to ensure
feeding management to reduce economic viability and
feed usage and cost and environmental sustain-
improve sustainability
ability from a range of
production systems it is
imperative that on-farm
feed utilisation and man-
agement is optimised for
ducted to reduce the dependence of on growth and economic sustainability. These
ingredients of marine origin in fish diets. challenges and knowledge for optimisation
In species, such as almonids fishmeal from across the continents will be evaluated
has been almost halved from around 55 and shared in subsequent issues.
percent inclusion level in 1995 to around 28 The performance of diets is typi-
percent in 2007 and similarly fish oils have cally evaluated by bFCR (Biological Food
been reduced by some 10 percent over the Conversion Ratio), that is how much feed
same period. intake (in kgs) is used to produce one kg
Further progress has since been made of fish. Under farming conditions the eFCR
to reduce the inclusion levels further under (Economic Food Conversion Ration) is of
EU funded initiatives such as AQUAMAX practical use and defines how much feed
and reports are emerging of completely is used overall to produce and harvest a
vegetarian diets for salmons. tonne of fish.
This eFCR is generally larger that bFCR
Research on substitutes (see Figure 3) and challenges we face as an
Research focus on substitutes addressing industry and as farmers is to reduce the
the sustainable use of marine ingredients overlap between eFCR and bFCR.
has consequently placed greater pressure Addressing mortality reduction will
on securing raw ingredients from land. make significant contribution to efficiency
The reduction in fishmeal and oil in of production through ensuring a greater
aquafeeds has meant that over half of the harvest. One effective way of reducing
bulk ingredients will have to be source mortality and enhancing fish growth as
elsewhere (Figure 1). part of farm management will be to use
For every tonne of aquafeed produced, diets as vehicles to administer nutricals or
over half a tonne will be of vegetable origin. medicines to enhance growth and reduce
In Europe alone, were aquafeed produc- mortality.
tion is estimated of 1.4 million tonnes in
2007, around 750,000 tonnes of ingredients
of vegetable origin will have to be secured.
Substitution, however, may not mean for More inforMation:
reduced prices. Since 2005, the price index Professor Krishen Rana
of soymeal, maize and wheat increased University of Stirling
by 150 to 225 percent. The dynamics of Stirling
the costs of these and other and raw K9 4LA
ingredients for aquafeeds will be featured Scotland
Tel: +44 1786 467920
in future issues. Fax: +44 1786 472133
According to some large European feed Email: kjr3@stir.ac.uk
manufactures, the cost of raw ingredients
has increased by 25 percent since 2005