Ful Foods is developing monitored duckweed-based feed protein in Pakistan as a potential partial alternative to imported soybean meal for poultry, dairy, and aquaculture.
Soybean meal is the dominant protein ingredient in commercial animal feed worldwide — and Pakistan is no exception. Poultry, dairy, aquaculture, and ruminant feed formulations all rely heavily on it. But Pakistan imports the majority of its soybean, meaning feed protein costs are denominated in foreign currency and exposed to global commodity price swings.
Pakistan spends over a billion dollars per year on soybean imports. This creates a direct channel between global commodity markets and domestic farm economics.
Feed prices have risen sharply over the past four years, driven by currency depreciation and import cost pass-through. Margins for poultry, dairy, and aquaculture operations have narrowed accordingly.
Pakistan currently has limited domestically produced high-protein feed ingredients at meaningful scale. Developing local alternatives — even as partial substitutes — could reduce structural import exposure over time.
Ful Foods is not attempting to replace all soybean meal across all animals at once. The approach is narrower and more defensible: develop a well-characterized, locally cultivated duckweed-based ingredient that can be validated for partial inclusion in specific feed formulations, species by species.
This means combining three things: monitored cultivation to produce consistent biomass, nutritional testing to characterize what the ingredient actually contains, and animal trial partnerships to generate species-specific performance data.
Ful does not claim to have already achieved cost parity with imported soybean meal, nor does it claim validated inclusion rates for all species. The work is ongoing and the evidence is preliminary.
Two lined raceway ponds across 16,000 sq ft, with daily observation and batch testing to characterize output quality.
Third-party testing to establish protein content, aflatoxin levels, and — pending — amino acid profile of cultivated biomass.
Partner trials across poultry, sheep, and aquaculture to generate species-specific performance data at validated inclusion rates.
Observed figures from Ful's monitored cultivation and partner trials. These are preliminary and shared as production evidence, not final commercial guarantees.
Inclusion rate requirements and performance benchmarks differ significantly across animal species. Ful is conducting and supporting species-specific trials rather than applying a single claim across all feed applications.
Duckweed-based protein is being evaluated as part of poultry feed strategies, including layer and broiler applications. Early data is promising but requires further structured validation before commercial inclusion rates can be confirmed.
PreliminaryControlled partner trial data observed comparable weight outcomes in duckweed feed groups versus a control group. Results are trial-specific and should not be generalized to other settings without further replicated trials.
Completed / under validationPositive feed acceptance has been observed in aquaculture species. Pellet development, formulation, and inclusion-rate optimization remain ongoing. Structured trials with university and farm-level partners are continuing.
Observed / ongoingWhen Ful uses the phrase "soybean meal replacement," it refers to potential partial substitution within qualified feed formulations — not full, universal replacement across all animals or all feed types.
Whether and how much duckweed-based protein can substitute for soybean meal in a given formulation depends on a range of factors: the animal species, the amino acid profile of the duckweed biomass, its digestibility, how it is processed into pellets or meal, its cost relative to soy at a given production volume, and what the specific trial data shows for that application.
Ful does not claim 100% replacement of soybean meal across all animals or all formulations. The company is building the evidence base to make responsible, species-specific inclusion recommendations — and that work is ongoing.
The following items represent open validation work that must be completed before Ful can make species-specific commercial inclusion recommendations.
Ful works with feed buyers, farmers, universities, and institutional partners. Get in touch to discuss trial interest, pilot data, or partnership.