USSEC was mentioned in a story in the March/April 2014 Aqua Culture Asia Pacific Magazine as one of the top reasons that an Indian feed company ventured into soy-based fish feeds.  In the article, the Managing Director of Growel Feeds, M.V.N. Seshachary, describes how USSEC influenced his company by introducing the technology to them and then carrying out trials with Growel’s feeds at fish farms.

According to USSEC - India Feed/Meal Program Director Dr. P.E. Vijay Anand, USSEC’s connection with Growel Feeds goes back to 2007 when the USSEC team approached Mr. Seshachary, who then worked in the aqua healthcare business segment, to join them as part of an eight-member potential investor team that USSEC took to China to showcase the successes of USSEC’s Soy in Aquaculture (SIA) program.  USSEC was already carrying out demonstrations and organizing seminars and workshops in India to show the return on investment (ROI) on soy-based fish feeds, but Dr. Anand felt that utilizing the resources of other USSEC regional offices would help to expose entrepreneurs to USSEC-developed technologies centered around soy.  He refers to this concept as “seeing is believing” and says that event success rates have ranged from 75-80% because high potential members on these teams returned to India to establish feed mills for fish feed.  Today, this industry stands as a true testimony to USSEC’s success, capable of producing 1.5 million metric tons (MMT) of feed per annum along with pulling soy meal.  These successes also spell out ROI for check-off, as USSEC continues to invest in programs and sees indicators that planned strategies truly work.  Currently, fish feed capacity utilization is in the region of 45% of capacity with more scope for feed production/demand building and soy utilization.