USSEC India recently organized the Nutrifish 2013 festival, held on September 9.  Co-sponsored by the Ananda Group, a major Indian aqua-farming company, the event was held at Jal Vihar in Hyderabad and aimed to create awareness about fish consumption in India.  According to Dr. Vijay Anand, USSEC Country Director – India, “India is the second-largest producer of fish in the world but fish consumption here is very low. It is basically due to the misconceptions attached to fish and the festival aims to clear them.”  The event provided its 3000 attendees with an opportunity to sample tasty fish recipes, information on aqua farming, fish farming, distribution, storage aspects and cooking.
As India’s population continues to climb, the country will need more protein in different forms to supply diverse cultures, food habits and nutritional expectations.  Dr. Anand described the festival as a unique event with several objectives:  popularizing fish consumption, dispelling misconceptions, providing knowledge and touting the benefits of fish as a protein source.  He stated, “The event has motivated a large number of people to think deep into end customer promotions and the returns it can give downstream on feed production and fish production.”  USSEC’s goal is to help promote fish consumption at the end of the value chain in order to create customer opportunities to promote U.S. soy in India.
The event was featured on at least five television channels, in ten different print media and on You Tube, including this article from Aqua International.  Aqua International is an Indian magazine published monthly in English and is widely considered to be the most effective aquaculture national magazine in India.  The periodical has a circulation of 3500 copies and a readership of approximately 14,000 in India.
Aqua Journal article on Nutrifish 2013 by USSEC