By Antonio Garza de Yta, Ph.D.
For me, Singapore has always been an example of what can be achieved with desire, discipline and hard work. It g to see how a country that only declared itself an independent republic in 1965, living under very different conditions than today, has become one of the most prosperous, civilized and secure places in the world. It is clear that the vision of the country, yesterday and today, has everything to do with it. A state that has invested in its people, both in education and in public health, and that has fought the greatest problem of humanity, corruption, is seeing how the great efforts it has made have paid off, and its citizens now have the most powerful passport in the world and a prosperous future.
When visiting Singapore, it is always interesting to see what new developments are on offer. With this in mind, I recently had the opportunity to participate in two events that took place concurrently a few weeks ago: the “Singapore International AgriFood Week (SIAW)” and the “Asia-Pacific Agri-Food Innovation Summit”. Both were held at the impressive Marina Bay Sands convention center. Overall, the experience was as anticipated.
On the one hand, there were at least three companies dedicated not only to the production of black soldier fly meal, but also to the production of oil, which, as we know, is the biggest bottleneck in the production of aquafeed, to be able to satisfy the demand that we will have in a shorter and shorter time. I tried to see some publications on the results of these oils on the growth of aquaculture species, but no one could point me to any publication; however, I do not imagine that it will take long.
I had the opportunity to speak with several manufacturers of marine algae products who are not dedicated to the business of replacing fishmeal in aquaculture species, but rather to the inclusion of their products for the pet market, but undoubtedly marine algae have more acceptance and a larger market.
The big problem we have today is that the protein content is only 6%, and this obviously makes the large-scale inclusion of these meals not yet practical or economically viable. But I want to emphasize this because for anyone who understands the global scarcity of resources and the potential of algae, it is obvious that algae is undoubtedly the future of feed for all farmed animals.
Yes, there is still a lot of work to be done, a lot of research provements that will produce algae with lower water content and higher content of easily digestible protein, but Rome was not built in a day and we had better get to work as soon as possible if we want to contribute to a real solution to the problems of future generations.
Finally, what caught my attention the most was the large amount of animal protein produced in laboratories. Just a few years ago this was a very attractive idea, but today there are several companies offering this product, not only from fish and seafood, but also from land animals. It is clear that this market will grow in size and value and that part of the market will be satisfied with protein from this source.
They have the same challenges that we all have to reduce and optimize the cost of production per gram of meat or protein, which is ultimately the business that we are all in. Let’s follow these trends very closely, because they are coming from a place that in many ways is several decades ahead of most of the world. Let’s keep our eyes open and our minds open even more.
The only constant in humanity is change, and the future will most likely be different from what we imagine today, but whatever it is, aquaculture will be at the forefront. The greatest wealth of our industry is diversity, and whatever we produce, wherever we produce it, our business and the future of mankind depends on us getting better and better at it.
Antonio Garza de Yta is COO of Blue Aqua International-Gulf, Vice President of the International Center for Strategic Studies in Aquaculture (CIDEEA), President of Aquaculture Without Frontiers (AwF), Past President of the World Aquaculture Society (WAS), Former Secretary of Fisheries and Aquaculture of Tamaulipas, Mexico, and Creator of the Certification for Aquaculture Professionals (CAP) Program with Auburn University.
