Monheim, Germany – Bayer Animal Health is boosting its solution offerings for shrimp and other warm-water aquaculture species through supply and distribution agreements with water treatment technology suppliers, Cytozyme Laboratories Inc. (“Cytozyme”) and Chengdu Kehongda Technology Co., Ltd (“KEHONDA”), as well as farm management technology provider, XpertSea Solutions Inc (“XpertSea”).
With these agreements, Bayer Animal Health extends to farmers in key shrimp producing countries greater access to pond water environment management technologies, further enhancing operational efficiency and sustainability.
The aquaculture industry has evolved considerably over the last decade, particularly as stocks from fisheries stagnate or dwindle. To meet growing global seafood demand, the shrimp industry is increasingly turning to warm-water pond aquaculture. This not only contributes to increased production volumes, but also aids the conservation of the oceans’ resources. Today, warm-water pond aquaculture contributes 55 percent of shrimp produced globally, mostly by small and medium enterprise pond farming.
Optimizing pond environments
Water treatment solutions play an important role in aquaculture, enabling producers to manage the complex pond ecosystem and provide an optimal environment for shrimp to thrive. As part of the agreement with Cytozyme, Bayer Animal Health will commercialize Proquatic™ PondRestore, a product that enhances metabolization activities in the pond-soil and pond-water environment, in several key aquaculture countries. The product is already part of Bayer Animal Health’s water treatment portfolio in China.
The agreement with KEHONDA will enable the rollout of Fetant™ Complex Iodine Solution technology as part of Bayer Animal Health’s portfolio in China and Vietnam. This partnership with KEHONDA follows the inclusion of Dyvon™ PondAcid to Bayer Animal Health’s water treatment solution program in China. The product is a pond-water conditioner that supports the quality of phytoplankton populations and maintains levels of dissolved oxygen in the pond water.
Advancing digital in aquaculture
Together with XpertSea, Bayer Animal Health advances digital farming in shrimp aquaculture. The agreement offers smart devices and artificial intelligence powered software for a comprehensive approach to data driven farm management, as part of its integrated services in China, Ecuador, India and Vietnam. The devices leverage optics to measure vital pond statistics over time and identify changes in the health of a population. Insights are aggregated into XpertSea’s online Growth Platform, which aids producers in making data-driven management and treatment decisions.
“We are proud to be able to play a leading role in offering shrimp producers an application program of non-pharmaceutical pond-water treatment products that make up a comprehensive solution. Together with our partners, we are committed to continue bringing technology to shrimp producers and supporting the sustainable development of the industry,” said Jan Koesling, Global Aquaculture Manager at Bayer Animal Health.
Over the last decades, Bayer Animal Health has fine-tuned its offering of water treatment solutions to address the needs of warm-water pond aquaculture customers in different segments. The agreements with Cytozyme, KEHONDA and XpertSea follow successful pilot projects in China and Vietnam in 2019 and build upon leading umbrella brands of ProteAQ™, Proquatic™ and Fetant™.
About warm-water pond aquaculture
Warm-water pond aquaculture has some distinct advantages. It is not directly connected with the ocean and production utilizes land that is often not suitable to efficiently sustain crops, which in turn brings about economic benefits to the community.
Rapid advancements in technology have enabled pond aquaculture to be more sustainable than ever before. In modern shrimp aquaculture, producers cultivate improved shrimp seedlings and place great emphasis on biosecurity as a healthy pond environment is vital for growing healthy shrimp. Shrimp producers also increasingly invest in in-door culture systems that enable better control of culture conditions, innovative water treatment products, and recirculate water to limit water exchange with the open sea environment. This reduces disease risk and puts the industry on the path towards true sustainability.
About Cytozyme
For over 40-years, Cytozyme has been committed to feed the world responsibly by delivering high performance, proven soil-to-shelf crop solutions using innovative technology and rigorous quality controls. Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, Cytozyme is trusted by progressive growers around the world. Feet-on-the-farm expertise is provided through its industry-respected leadership, a global network of in-country expert managers and select retail distributors. For more information, visit: http://www.cytozyme.com.
About KEHONDA
KEHONDA focuses on the development and efficient manufacturing of disinfectants and surfactants. The company’s core business are disinfectant products and environmental cleaning products, which are widely used in swine, poultry, dairy, aquaculture, pet care and other fields. KEHONDA is headquartered in Chengdu (Sichuan), the hometown of pandas. It is a research and development-driven enterprise that provides long-term safe and environmental-friendly products for farmers and consumers. The company’s mission is to “make animal production safer.”
About XpertSea
XpertSea is a Canadian technology company that’s transforming how the global aquaculture industry farms seafood to help feed the world. Combining smart aquaculture equipment with a farm management platform, its collaborative solution uncovers actionable insights driven by artificial intelligence. These insights enable farmers and industry experts to optimize feed efficiency, reduce environmental waste, take preventive actions against diseases and use data to bring transparency and knowledge to the entire supply chain. With customers in over 50 countries, XpertSea is using Canadian ingenuity to make aquaculture profitable and sustainable. For more information, go to http://www.xpertsea.com.
About Bayer
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. Its products and services are designed to benefit people by supporting efforts to overcome the major challenges presented by a growing and aging global population. At the same time, the Group aims to increase its earning power and create value through innovation and growth. Bayer is committed to the principles of sustainable development, and the Bayer brand stands for trust, reliability and quality throughout the world. In fiscal 2019, the Group employed around 104,000 people and had sales of 43.5 billion euros. Capital expenditures amounted to 2.9 billion euros, R&D expenses to 5.3 billion euros. For more information, go to www.bayer.com.
