April 14, 2010
Growell Feeds establishes modern fish feed unit
Growell Feeds Private Limited has recently inaugurated one of India's most modern fish feed manufacturing facilities near Singarayapalem in Andhra Pradesh's Krishna district.
The plant, fully automated from ingredient-mixing to finished product, currently targets 60,000 tonnes a year with scale-up options to produce "protein-rich extruded floating feed." The concept is already popular in advanced economies and includes feeding fish floating pellets using satiation techniques, to reduce feed wastage, production cost and pond pollution.
Andhra Pradesh has more than two lakh acres of fresh water fish farms, which produce about 13 lakh tonnes of fish.
Talking about the importance of location, the company's chief promoter M.S. Ranga Chary said proximity to the source of raw material (oilcakes, soymeal, rice-bran, etc) and availability of labour, power and water were major advantages for the unit, which was geared to meet the evolving needs of customers.
Dr Vijay Anand, Technical Director, American Soybean Association's International Marketing Division, and well-known aquaculture expert, said that in order to increase productivity and meat quality, Indian farmers were now more open to accepting feeds that were pre-digested and included the necessary protein, fat, vitamins and minerals.