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Nov 20, 2023
By Charlie Townsend
This issue of American Soybean, we look at some of the “soy faces” engaged with ASA’s WISHH program, their successes, and in turn, the successes of ASA’s hardworking development arm.
AgriMaster’s Rady Chea has overseen a multi-million-dollar expansion of the company’s feed mill in Cambodia. In a country that is one of the largest freshwater fish consumers in the world, Chea counts on U.S. soybeans and meal for its aquaculture and other animal feeds.
Rady Chea is a driving force for growth in Cambodia’s feed and aquaculture industries. When AgriMaster, a Cambodian feed mill, recently underwent a multi-million-dollar expansion, Chea—the company’s general manager—was there overseeing the project. AgriMaster now runs two work shifts per day, producing a variety of animal feeds ranging from fish and swine to chickens and duck. The company’s innovation is on the rise.
“We have a new project to produce feeds for poultry laying hens as well as sows,” says Chea, who recognizes U.S. soy’s benefits in these feeds. “The U.S. soybean meal quality is more stable compared to other sources. That is why we will continue to buy U.S. soybeans and soybean meal for our feed production.”
Chea projects a 10-20% increase in demand for the company’s aquaculture feeds in 2023-2024. The Cambodian feed manufacturer and WISHH strategic partner is a U.S. soybean meal buyer for its feeds, which are sold throughout the Southeast Asian country.
Cambodians are among the highest consumers of freshwater fish in the world, with annual per capita fish consumption estimated at 52.4kg. More than 80% of the total animal protein in the Cambodian diet comes from fish and other aquatic animals, most of which come from inland water bodies.
Chea and AgriMaster are key partners in WISHH’s U.S. Department of Agriculture Food for Progress Commercialization of Aquaculture for Sustainability Trade (CAST) - Cambodia project (focused on developing a lasting aquaculture industry in Cambodia). He is also a board member of the Cambodian Aquaculturalist Association that CAST helped launch in 2020. The association now includes approximately 1,000 members and has established a network of trade relationships among Cambodians and with U.S. soy.
WISHH began working with Chea prior to CAST when it sent technical consultants from Kansas State University and the Fargo-based Northern Crops Institute to advise AgriMaster and other Cambodian enterprises. These foundational trainings included feed formulation, best production practices, feed safety and benefits of using U.S. soybean meal.
The ongoing journey of Chea and WISHH continues, and the company is looking to further expand with U.S. soy. WISHH and Chea are in discussions regarding additional technical expertise that would boost its aquaculture feed formulation and production.
After weathering the COVID-19 pandemic, Harimat Farms CEO Matthew Bonso continues to prefer U.S. soy protein for his growing flock, which now produces 8 million eggs a year. He learned about the quality of U.S. soybean meal from WISHH.
Ghanaian poultry farmer Mathew Bonso remembers tough times as his company weathered the COVID-19 pandemic, including disruptions to Ghana’s poultry and egg market and its overall economy. Despite these hardships, Bonso’s company, Harimat Farms, continues making progress with its flock, which produces 8 million eggs a year.
A partnership with WISHH has helped Bonso develop stronger poultry production skills—and a preference for U.S. soy protein. “I have benefited a lot the past four years,” he says of his partnership with WISHH, which began in 2018. “I am able to feed very good quality feed to my birds.”
The company’s results are rooted in WISHH’s USDA Food for Progress Poultry project, which concluded its activities in Ghana in 2019. Although the project is finished, the positive results of Bonso’s partnership with WISHH keep growing and are wins for both Ghana and the United States.
When the Ghanaian government honored Flosell Farms CEO Evans Danso as “Ghana’s Best Fish Farmer,” he credited his partnership with WISHH for supporting him along the way. Evans first met WISHH when his operation was just a budding farm near the banks of the Volta River. Through about five years of technical support, training and various trade trips to the United States with WISHH, Danso now runs one of the largest fish farms in the West African country.
“WISHH has been very supportive and very impactful to Flosell,” says Danso. “With the program’s support, we’ve been able to train a lot of our staff, a lot of staff from other farms and also students from various universities.”
From Left: Ghanaian fish farmers John Domozoro and Evans Danso work closely with Jeff Terhune, a global aquaculture expert and WISHH consultant who offers practical training to strengthen aquaculture in sub-Saharan Africa.
The relationship began when WISHH used USDA Agricultural Trade Promotion funds to bring Danso to the United States, where he learned innovative new techniques for aquaculture management and development. Danso also learned how U.S. soy is used to raise better fingerlings, creating a larger yield and healthier fish. He was so impressed with what he learned that he called his staff and directed them to adopt the practices before he even returned to Ghana.
Danso is a leading example of why sub-Saharan African aquaculture has grown by 11% annually on average since 2,000—almost twice as fast compared with the rest of the world.
Five years later, Danso continues trainings with WISHH-affiliated partners in Ghana, hosts regional management trainings, and importantly, supports Ghana’s next generation of aquaculture entrepreneurs. WISHH’s USB-supported, 16-week internship program is held at Flosell Farms. The program supports WISHH’s strategy of helping fill growing demand for more aquaculture professionals who can improve and expand aquaculture in sub-Saharan Africa. The internship offers real-world, hands-on experience that will serve the interns when they take the reins as the next generation of aquaculture leaders.
Danso knows this will strengthen the overall aquaculture sector in his country and can lead to increased use of U.S. soy for fish feed.
While millions rely on her company for products served on their dinner tables, Elsy Alvarez sees U.S. soy protein as more than just a food ingredient. By supplying protein to populations across Latin America and strengthening the region’s businesses, soy could have an even greater, more widespread impact, she says. Through her partnership with WISHH, she hopes to continue increasing soy’s prevalence in the area.
Elsy Alvarez, technical sales manager for a Dominican Republic-based food distribution company, discusses soy with Northern Crops Institute Program Manager Brian Sorenson during WISHH’s U.S.-based training on how to use soy protein in foods.
“We know that our products could impact over 20 million people,” says Alvarez, technical sales manager for Dominican Republic-based CTC Group. “We can’t afford to waste time looking at other sources. Thankfully, WISHH has already connected us to the best experts as we explore incorporating more soy protein.”
Alvarez recently represented her company on a WISHH-led trade team to the United States, where participants learned about incorporating an increased amount of soy protein in CTC’s products. Alvarez, whose company already distributes U.S. soy-based products from an Iowa-based company, expressed her thanks to WISHH for gaining more in-depth knowledge to take back to her company. Alvarez is just one of multiple distributors from Latin America interested in carrying even more soy products in their markets.
Also attending WISHH’s 2023 U.S.-based training was WISHH strategic partner Jose Saban, who represents Guatemalan-based Concadal. His company distributes to multiple countries in Central America. Saban explained that seeing how soy is sustainably grown, combined with learning from top experts, provided key tools he could then take back to his team, which can use the knowledge to unlock local protein solutions.
“I work closely with producers and our research and development team,” Saban explained. “The type of experience offered by WISHH was always a goal for us. The quality of education offered by these experts through WISHH was top-notch and gives me information to support my team’s work.”
Like many other trade team members, Saban was impressed with the ways soy protein can be used to increase the nutritional value of his products. Concadal is also exploring ways to use more soy protein, he says, and soy protein will eventually make its way to people across Central America. With the support of WISHH, Saban is excited about the future.
“The information and nutritional training received from WISHH have been invaluable to us. It has been a gamechanger. We hope to get U.S. soy as a nutritional supplement even in schools and other institutions!”
