Aquaculture at the forefront. Dr. Rajeev Jha, Aqua Farm Solution Lead at Aboitiz Foods, shares insights on moving from reactive to proactive health management at The Aquaculture Roundtable Series (TARS) 2026 in Bali, Indonesia. / Photo Courtesy: TARS 2026
(BALI, Indonesia) Aquaculture is no longer a peripheral contributor to Asia’s food system—it is at the center of the region’s growing role in feeding the world. In 2024, Asia produced 91.5 million tonnes of farmed aquatic animals and accounted for 90% of the increase in global farmed aquatic animal production between 2000 and 2024, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
But scale brings new challenges. As production expands, farmers face disease pressure, environmental stress, resource constraints, and growing demands for efficiency and sustainability.
For Dr. Rajeev Jha, Aqua Farm Solution Lead at Aboitiz Foods, these pressures are prompting a fundamental change in how the industry approaches animal health.
“The aquaculture industry is shifting from traditional production-focused methods,” said Dr. Jha, adding, “In the past, success was mainly judged by production volume and feed conversion ratio. Now, producers grapple with more complex challenges such as disease outbreaks, environmental stress, climate change, antimicrobial resistance concerns, and increasing consumer demands for sustainability and food safety.”
Speaking at The Aquaculture Roundtable Series (TARS) 2026 in Bali, Indonesia, Dr.Jha explored this shift in his presentation, Moving from Reactive to Proactive Health Management.
Transforming feed as defense
Traditionally, feed has been viewed primarily as a way to deliver nutrients for growth. But its role is evolving.
In his presentation, Dr. Jha mentioned, “Feed is no longer just nutrition. It is the first line of defense, health, and the foundation of sustainable aquaculture.”
According to Dr. Jha, “The industry is increasingly recognizing that feed is not only for growth but also for health and resilience. Functional ingredients are playing a larger role in supporting immunity, gut health, stress tolerance, and disease resistance.”
Rather than waiting for disease or stress to compromise production, the approach seeks to prepare animals in advance—strengthening their natural defenses and ability to cope with predictable challenges.
But proactive nutrition is not a substitute for good farm management. Dr. Jha emphasizes that its effectiveness depends on how it works alongside biosecurity, water quality, pond microbiome management, pathogen surveillance, and responsible feeding practices.
Precision nutrition and farm management
Proactive nutrition requires precision. Too little may not provide enough biological stimulus, while too much can trigger physiological responses that consume resources that could otherwise support growth.
In trials presented at TARS, a medium inclusion level produced stronger growth performance than lower and higher levels. Post-larvae recorded a specific growth rate of 34% at the medium dose, compared with 23% for the control; juvenile shrimp reached 42%, versus 25%.
These findings underscore that effective formulations need to be precisely designed and validated to find the growth-supportive window—where health and resilience are strengthened without compromising the animal’s ability to grow.
“Looking ahead, I believe aquaculture research should focus on developing integrated solutions that simultaneously improve productivity, resilience, and sustainability, as the challenges facing the industry cannot be solved through a single discipline alone,” said Dr. Jha.
That approach extends across the farm – integrating nutrition with farm management, diagnostics, microbiome science, data, and technology. Rapid diagnostics, sensors, automated feeding, and predictive analytics can help producers identify risks earlier and make more precise decisions.
Dr. Jha remarked, “Aquaculture is a biological system in which nutrition, health, biosecurity, water quality, and farm management are closely interconnected. Producers cannot optimize one factor while neglecting the others because each directly affects animal performance, disease resistance, and overall farm productivity.”
Turning science into solutions
The shift toward proactive health management ultimately requires translating science into solutions that work under real farm conditions.
For Aboitiz Foods, this means investing in research, innovation, and technical expertise to develop practical, evidence-based aquaculture solutions tailored to farmers across Asia. The company’s aquaculture research and development facility in Singapore features a Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) capable of running two to three trials simultaneously in both seawater and freshwater environments. This controlled setup enables rigorous research and performance validation, accelerating the development of nutrition solutions suited to diverse farming conditions.
Just as important is working closely with customers through technical support, farm-level assessment, health monitoring, and data-driven recommendations to optimize animal health and performance.
According to Dr. Jha, this also defines the role that companies in the aquaculture value chain should play. “We need to act as innovation partners, technical advisors, and industry enablers that help producers navigate an increasingly complex production environment.”
As aquaculture continues to evolve, that means moving beyond simply responding to disease and production challenges. It means using science, nutrition, technology, and closer collaboration with farmers to anticipate risks—and build production systems resilient enough to thrive in them.
Because the future of aquaculture will not simply belong to those who produce more, but to those who can produce healthier animals, more efficiently and sustainably.
FAQs
- What is the main shift happening in aquaculture health management?
The industry is moving from traditional, reactive production methods to proactive health management. Instead of treating diseases after they occur, farmers are focusing on building animal resilience, managing stress, and improving sustainability to prevent health issues before they start.
- How is the role of aquafeed changing?
Feed is evolving from a basic source of growth nutrients into a first-line defense. Modern feeds use functional ingredients that support gut health, boost immunity, improve stress tolerance, and increase overall disease resistance.
- Why is an integrated production system essential for optimal aquaculture health?
Aquaculture is a complex biological system where nutrition, health, biosecurity, water quality, and farm management are interconnected. Optimizing one element while neglecting others can compromise performance; all components—including diagnostics and data-driven tech—must work together to strengthen disease resistance and maximize overall productivity.
- What role does Aboitiz Foods play in supporting this industry transformation?
Aboitiz Foods aims to become an innovation partner, technical advisor, and industry enabler in the aquaculture sector. The company invests in R&D—including a specialized facility in Singapore—to translate science into evidence-based solutions, providing farm-level technical support, health monitoring, and data-driven guidance to help producers succeed.
