The U.S. Grains & BioProducts Council (USGBC) recently held an aquaculture training session for stakeholders from Turkey, Egypt, Oman and Tunisia. USGBC Deputy Regional Director for Africa Mohamed Salah Bouthout (sixth from right) oversaw the program at Aydin Adnan Menderes University (ADU). Image courtesy of USGBC.
The U.S. Grains & BioProducts Council (USGBC) recently held an aquaculture training session for stakeholders from Turkey, Egypt, Oman and Tunisia. USGBC Deputy Regional Director for Africa Mohamed Salah Bouthout (sixth from right) oversaw the program at Aydin Adnan Menderes University (ADU). Image courtesy of USGBC.

As a follow-up to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between the U.S. Grains & Bioproducts Council (USGBC) and Aydin Adnan Menderes University (ADU), the parties recently co-organized a second aquaculture training and the first international session for participants from the Middle East and North Africa. Topics focused on enhancing aquafeed manufacturing and promoting the incorporation of U.S. corn co-products like distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and corn fermented protein (CFP).

USGBC Deputy Regional Director for Africa Mohamed Salah Bouthour and USGBC Turkey Consultant Ibrahim Sirtioglu traveled to oversee the trainings and meet with importers and end-users for potential business connections.

“The training combined lectures by university experts with practical, hands-on sessions on sourcing, storage and applications of these ingredients. ADU presented results from feeding trials on rainbow trout and marine fish, demonstrating improved feed conversion ratios and reduced production costs, when using U.S. DDGS,” Bouthour said.

“The trials’ findings are promising and are in line with the Council’s goals to promote and expand the uses of U.S. corn co-products in Turkey.”

Attendees included industry professionals from Turkey, Egypt, Oman and Tunisia who participated in a comprehensive program focused on improving aquafeed manufacturing practices by optimizing feed formulas.

Players in the Turkish aquaculture industry were invited to offer an overview of the farming process and the opportunities to meet demand both in the region and globally for seafood, opening new export market opportunities for U.S. corn co-products as a result.

“With the feed trials showing positive results about the financial and nutritional benefits of corn co-products, it’s an opportunity for the Council to take the next step in promoting and publishing that data for the private sector to learn from,” Bouthour said.

“The partnership with ADU has already been extremely fruitful and I look forward to other leading end-users in Africa and the Middle East attending training courses to advance their local aquaculture production.”

Read more from USGBC here.