An international group from the U.S. Grains Council (USGC) recently traveled to Morocco and organized a large national event. Many of Morocco’s aquaculture industry's topics were covered, such as the increase in aquaculture feed demand, and trends and opportunities for distiller’s dried grain with soluble (DDGS).

“The audience was thirsty to hear from the USGC experts addressing proteins constraints – specifically regarding aquaculture – and providing insight on the global production outlook with more information on the use of U.S. corn co-products with a focus on nutrition and performance in tilapia and shrimp species,” said Mohamed Salah Bouthour, USGC assistant regional director for Africa.

Despite the relative smallness of Morocco’s market compared with Egypt, the largest tilapia-producing country in the Middle East and Africa, Morocco’s aquaculture aims to rely on the support of USGC.

“Morocco’s aquaculture feed production represents only 1,000 metric tons of the total balanced feed produced. The council will continue to support the growth of the aquaculture animal husbandry industry in the country by empowering Moroccan investors and local feed millers with relevant knowledge and technical skills through educational programming funded by our USDA Section 108 Aquaculture grant,” said Bouthour.

The council will initiate a three-year aquaculture project in Morocco to support the development and expansion of the aquaculture sector in the country and support the industry in addressing the bottlenecks and constraints prohibiting enhanced production. Through these efforts, the integrated model for shrimp and tilapia was also one of the topics argued, together with the current threats to the industry.