The problem
Soybean meal is the main protein ingredient in Pakistan's commercial animal feed. Pakistan imported more than two million tonnes of soybeans in 2024–25, mostly for poultry feed, and soybean meal also goes into fish and dairy feed. Because it is bought in dollars, its price passes straight from global markets and the exchange rate into the cost of feed.
Replacement is partial, and species by species
No single ingredient swaps cleanly for another. Whether duckweed can take over some of soybean meal's job in a given feed depends on:
- the species and its life stage
- the amino-acid balance of the duckweed, especially methionine
- how well the fish digest it
- how it is processed: fresh, dried meal or pellet
- how the pellet holds together in water and how readily fish eat it
- its cost against soy at the volumes a farm actually buys
Each of these is answered by measurement and by controlled feeding trials, one species at a time.
How we are going about it
First, grow duckweed consistently in our own raceways. Second, measure what it contains, and label every number by how it was measured: a lab analysis, a range across batches, or a near-infrared estimate awaiting wet chemistry. Third, put formulated feed into university feeding trials for the species Pakistani farms actually raise.
One of our formulations contains no fishmeal and no soybean meal. We publish results once each trial has been analysed and cleared.
What we claim today
- Duckweed from our ponds has tested at 35–40% crude protein, dry basis, across batches.
- A recent GreenFin batch measured about 31% crude protein, as-is.
- Feeding trials with GreenFin are underway at university partners in Punjab and Sindh.
What we don't claim yet
- Validated inclusion rates for any species
- Cost parity with imported soybean meal
- Full replacement of soybean meal across feeds
See the Evidence page for every trial and measurement, or read about GreenFin.