Improving Food Productivity
Initiatives for Improving Food Productivity
The Ajinomoto Group leverages its products and expertise to improve food productivity. Among its main businesses, the amino acids business in particular has made significant contributions to the agriculture, livestock, and fisheries industries.
In these industries around the world, nutrient-rich by-products generated from the group's amino acid fermentation process are being used as fertilizers and feeds. With the addition of minerals, the by-products can also be used to produce foliar fertilizers that greatly increase plant resistance to crop damage by replenishing their nutrients more effectively. The Ajinomoto Group is working to introduce and further promote the use of these high-value-added products over the world.
Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins that are present in plants and animals, and are also one of the vital nutrients necessary for growth.
The Ajinomoto Group makes the most of amino acids' nutritional aspects in its feed-use amino acids for livestock. Research is being conducted on amino acids suitable for fishery products, such as feed for farming fishery resources. By developing relevant processing technologies, the group intends to provide alternatives to fishmeal, of which supply is unstable.
Essential for life, amino acids have potential applications yet to be discovered. In the future, the Ajinomoto Group will carry out further research and development in the field and draw on its expertise to improve food productivity.
Amino Acid Production Plants and Use of Co-Products over the World
The Ajinomoto Group produces nutrient-rich by-products in the fermentation process for amino acids and nucleic acids at its globally based production plants. These by-products are regarded as co-products that can be made into value-added products, such as fertilizers and livestock feed for use in agriculture, livestock and fishery industries over the world.
Amino acid and nucleic acid production plants, and use of co-products over the world
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Co-Products Contributing to Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries Industries
In Fiscal 2010, Ajinomoto Co., Inc. launched A-Link, an agricultural materials project aimed at expanding business, in addition to promoting the development of higher-value-added co-products and the use of amino acids and nucleic acids globally.
As part of this initiative, the group developed AJITEIN high-grade livestock feed by separating protein-rich fungus bodies from the co-products previously used for liquid fertilizers and livestock feed. AJITEIN production and sales began in Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam in fiscal 2010.
Established primarily in South America, sales of AJIFOL® foliar fertilizer was also extended to Southeast Asian countries. Made with a special combination of minerals and amino acids generated from co-products, AJIFOL® is used on soybeans, vegetables and fruits to enable their leaves to effectively absorb nutrients contained in the product. Farmers have commended AJIFOL® for its role in the growth of healthy crops and increasing harvest yields.
In Japan, Ajinomoto Frozen Foods Co., Inc. and Knorr Foods Co., Ltd. have been jointly studying the cultivation of rice and vegetables using co-products rich in nucleic acids produced at the Kyushu Plant of Ajinomoto Co., Inc., and confirmed their effectiveness as agricultural materials. Ajinomoto Co., Inc. reported the results at the agricultural materials exhibition, Agro-Innovation Japan 2010, and received inquiries from a large number of attendants. The fertilizer was later developed and released as AMIHEART in April 2011.
The Ajinomoto Group intends to continue research and development aimed at further increasing the added value of co-products, in an effort to release products that meet customer demand over the world and improve food productivity.
Initiative 1: Activities of FD Green (Thailand)
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FD Green (Thailand) Co., Ltd.
FD Green (Thailand) Co., Ltd., a group company, was established in 2001. It specializes in co-products generated from the amino acid fermentation process of Ajinomoto Co., (Thailand) Ltd., which are used as agricultural materials. Employing the slogan, "We will make the world green," FD Green (Thailand) develops technologies that effectively utilize co-products, and actively promotes products that enhance the productivity of regional agriculture, livestock and fishery businesses.
Rather than selling co-products in their raw form, the company processes them according to the requirements of particular regions to create high-value-added agricultural products. In fiscal 2010, an array of products totaling about 220,000 tonnes by weight were sold, including AMI-AMI liquid fertilizer, AMIMATE solid chemical fertilizer, AJIFOL® foliar fertilizer for promoting plant growth, and AJITEIN protein-rich feed. AMI-AMI has been popular among farmers in Thailand for over 30 years.
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A fish farmer shows a tilapia raised on feed made from liquid fertilizer
Farming Tilapia and other freshwater fish is widely practiced in Thailand. Use of dedicated fishmeal, however, has yet to be adopted; the common feeding method employs a food cycle where the fish eat water fleas that feed on phytoplankton, which is in-turn generated by adding chemical fertilizers to fishponds. As an alternative, AMI-AMI is highly beneficial for fish farmers, as its abundance of nitrogen, other minerals and organic compounds greatly increases phytoplankton growth when added to water. In the future, FD Green (Thailand) Co., Ltd. will work with A-Link, the co-product project of Ajinomoto Co., Inc., to further develop, produce and market products with added value.
The Cassava High-Yield Cultivation Project in Indonesia
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Cassava
The Ajinomoto Group has been carrying out the Cassava High-Yield Cultivation Project (the "Cassava Project") in the Indonesian province of Lampung since fiscal 2005, with the aim to help improve the livelihoods of cassava farmers and support the sustainable development of local communities.
Cassava is both a major food resource in Southeast Asia as well as one of the fermentation raw materials used to make the umami seasoning AJI-NO-MOTO®. The group works with the Lampung Bureau of Agriculture and community development specialists to provide working funds for the project and for improving cassava cultivation techniques and community development know-how. Although a number of difficulties were initially faced when the project started, including language and cultural differences, irregular weather such as drought, and acidic soil, production per unit of land increased 2.5 times over five years, thereby greatly improving the farmers' incomes.
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A typical Indonesian farmhouse
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A family participating in the Cassava Project
Cassava Project activities in fiscal 2010
| Annual yield of the Cassava Project | Before project | First year | Second year | Third year | Fourth year | Fifth year (FY2010) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average crop yield (tonnes/hectare) | 13 | 22 | 23 | 27 | 29 | 33 |
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A meeting held at the farmers' cooperative
The commemorative photograph of the ceremony
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Farmers commended for their good work at the awards ceremony
Members of the community watch the ceremony
Aiming to provide a foundation for activities to continue independently, the Cassava Project set up a farmers' cooperative, locally known as koperasi, in 2008. The cooperative recorded a surplus balance of payments in fiscal 2009, its second year of operations, and demonstrated the ability to produce stable profits after three years in fiscal 2010.
The farmers' cooperative provides its members with the following services: (1) instructions for cassava cultivation, (2) bulk purchasing of fertilizers and pesticides at reasonable prices, (3) assistance with harvesting and shipping the cassava, and (4) the establishment of lasting relations with customers that purchase the cassava. Through these services, members have gained easy access to fertilizers, cultivation management techniques, and sales information. As a result, farmers have increased their crop yields and secured a stable group of buyers.
In an effort to continuously develop, the cooperative started trial production of low priced compost to replace chemical fertilizer from fiscal 2009. It also began to set aside a portion of profits in a fund for replacing trucks and other equipment in the future, thereby establishing a foundation for enabling continuous operations going forward.
In March 2011, the farmers' cooperative held its harvest festival for fiscal 2010, along with a ceremony to celebrate its founding. At the ceremony, local government officials praised the cooperative's activities, calling it a "model koperasi" in the region. The Ajinomoto Group intends to continue working together with the cooperative in the future, monitoring onsite activities and providing guidance.
A message from Sudarman, the head of the farmers' cooperative
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Sudarman, the farmers' cooperative head, gives a speech
Feed Additives Contributing to the Livestock Industry
Initiative 2: Improving livestock feed efficiency through use of feed-use amino acids
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Advantages of adding lysine to feed
Amino acids are indispensable nutrients for animals; essential amino acids in particular must be absorbed from food, as they cannot be synthesized in the body. Unfortunately, however, livestock are raised on feeds that are generally deficient in certain amino acids, owing to commonly used mixtures of energy sources like corn and wheat, and protein sources such as soybean meal.
Achieving optimum livestock growth is challenging when some amino acids are lacking. Regardless of intake, the amino acid most deficient in the feed sets a limit to the amount that can be utilized by the animal. Consequently, other amino acids above this level are excreted.
Recognizing this problem, the Ajinomoto Group produces and sells feed-use amino acid products that can compensate for specific amino acids commonly lacking in feeds, particularly lysine, threonine, and tryptophan. By supplementing feeds with these feed-use amino acids, farmers can ensure that their livestock utilizes all amino acids more effectively, resulting in improved growth and higher feed efficiency.
The best balance of amino acids based on the barrel theory
Effective land use
Feed-use amino acids reduce the area of land required for feed-use crops and contribute to the effective use of limited arable land. For example, if the portion of soybean meal used in feed were replaced with a combination of corn and feed-use lysine, the land area required to grow the corn would be reduced by approximately 70% as its yield is about three times higher than that of soybean. In other words, if feed-use amino acids were not available, the expansion of arable land for feed-use crops would have to be accelerated to support the increasing consumption of meat, possibly leading to deforestation or other environmental destruction. Thus, feed-use amino acids enable the saved land to be used for producing food for the world's growing population.
Results of replacing 50 tons of soybean meal with corn and feed-use lysine
Initiative 3: Beneficial bacteria that reduce crops required for livestock feed
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CALSPORIN®
Calpis Co., Ltd. has accumulated technologies related to bacteria through many years of research on intestinal flora, the ecosystem of the numerous bacteria in the intestines. Leveraging these technologies, the company began producing and selling CALSPORIN®, a feed additive for conditioning the intestinal environments of livestock. At present, CALSPORIN® is being used as a feed additive mainly for chickens and pigs, and is sold in 39 countries in North and South America, Europe, and Asia, including Japan.
CALSPORIN® increases beneficial bacteria such as lactobacillus and bifidobacterium in the intestines of livestock, resulting in better intestinal flora. This enables livestock to gain body weight with less feed, thereby increasing the feed efficiency1.
Through the worldwide usage of CALSPORIN®, approximately 500,000 tonnes of crops used for formula feeds such as soybeans, corn, and wheat are saved every year as a result.
CALSPORIN® has been highly evaluated in terms of safety. It has been designated as a feed additive in Japan, and was the first Japanese feed additive to gain certification under the European Feed Addictives and Premixtures Quality System (FAMI-QS), a quality and safety management system that meets legal requirements in the European Union. It has the strictest requirements in the world for feed efficiency, quality, and safety at the genetic level.
1. Feed efficiency indicates livestock weight gain in proportion to feed intake. For example, if 3 kilograms of feed are needed to increase the weight of a pig by 1 kilogram, then the feed efficiency is 33%. Accordingly, the higher the efficiency, the less amount of feed is required for livestock to gain weight.
