A specialized seminar held in the capital under the aegis of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for domestic producers of commercial freshwater pond fish, and potentially other types of aquaculture such as aquatic plants and animals, focused on the formulation and production of feeds using local raw materials. The target audience included dietitians, animal feed producers from sectoral state institutions, representatives of fish farming enterprises, scientific circles, and state fisheries protection.
The main speaker of the seminar, FAO international expert Thomas Shipton (UK), presented thematic presentations. His lectures addressed the formulation of high-quality, cost-effective and environmentally safe aquafeeds and the construction of fish farms on open ground to avoid filtration. It was noted that feed costs account for up to 60% of operational expenses, and to ensure profitability, farmers should use high-quality feeds at reasonable prices that meet the nutritional needs of cultivated plants or aquatic bio-organisms, optimizing growth and enhancing sustainable yield indicators. Equally important for producers are the health of broodstock fish, juveniles, economic returns of the enterprise, and the reduction of sanitary-ecological risks. On the other hand, the national agrarian market base capable of providing all necessary ingredients for feed preparation and building domestic supply chains for component suppliers—organic materials, cereal waste, oils, fats, bone meal, mix manufacturers—is not fully explored. Often dietitians may not have formal training in aquatic animal nutrition, which is fundamentally different from caring for livestock and poultry. The speaker noted that homemade feeds might not consider specific aquaculture dietary needs, which are as crucial as the water body's temperature regime or sufficient oxygen availability. Good growth and production profitability will be ensured by understanding component compatibility, digestibility of various breeds of individual mixture components, exclusion of anti-nutritional factors, the need to thermally process certain oils like soybean oil, and much more.
The two-day lectures allowed participants to improve their qualifications, professional level and strengthen the potential of personnel in a promising sector of the national economy where dozens of farmers work on cultivating exotic species, freshwater shrimp, etc. This was the second aquaculture training held under a project program by the Ministry of Finance and Economy and FAO with participation from the veterinary division of the agricultural department: "Development of production-marketing chain, feed base for aquaculture, building effective organizational structures for enterprises, and protecting aquatic animal health." It should be emphasized that agro-ecological interaction with FAO in the country is coordinated by the Ministry of Environmental Protection of Turkmenistan.
