The rotting vegetables in a Kochi market bin and the feed in a fish farmer’s pond may soon be the same story. On Tuesday, 10 November 2026, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) announced that organic waste from households and markets could become a major source of protein for India’s aquaculture sector — and the technology to do it already exists, is already patented, and is already in commercial production.
The announcement came at the inauguration of a 21-day winter school on integrated Black Soldier Fly (BSF)-based feed technology at the ICAR–Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), Kochi. Dr Devika Pillai, ICAR Assistant Director General, opened the school, and her message was blunt: the aquaculture sector’s dependence on fishmeal made from wild fish has to fall, feed costs have to come down, and the answer may be crawling in the waste bin.
This post explains what the technology is, what the numbers actually say, who is already making the feed, and what a fish farmer should realistically do about it.
The story at a glance
| Event | 21-day winter school on integrated Black Soldier Fly-based feed technology, inaugurated 10 November 2026 (Tuesday) at ICAR-CMFRI, Kochi |
| Opened by | Dr Devika Pillai, Assistant Director General, ICAR |
| Organiser | Marine Biotechnology, Fish Nutrition and Health Division, ICAR-CMFRI (ICAR-sponsored winter school) |
| Technology | Patented CMFRI technology that uses black soldier fly larvae to convert organic waste into nutrient-rich biomass for fish feed |
| Protein content | 40–45% protein in the larvae, plus fats and amino acids (CMFRI official page) |
| Commercial status | Four startups are now producing fish feed commercially using the technology |
| Named partner | Amala Ecoclean (technology transferred by MoU; Director Dr Grinson George and Joseph Niclavose signed) |
| School runs | 10–30 November 2026 (21 days) |
Why fish feed is the problem nobody can ignore
Feed is the single biggest running cost in fish farming, and its most expensive ingredient is protein. For decades that protein has come mainly from fishmeal — ground-up wild-caught fish. That creates two problems at once. First, fishmeal depends on wild fish stocks, so it is linked to overfishing and to prices that swing with every bad fishing season. Second, as India’s aquaculture keeps growing, the demand for that finite ingredient keeps rising with it.
The scale of that growth is the reason this story matters now. India produced 197.75 lakh tonnes of fish in 2024-25, up from 141.64 lakh tonnes just five years earlier, and inland fisheries and aquaculture now produce about three-fourths of it. In FY 2025-26, India exported 19,72,018 metric tonnes of seafood worth Rs 73,890.46 crore (US$ 8.46 billion). Every tonne of that fish had to be fed, and most of it was fed on diets built around fishmeal and soybean.
Dr Pillai put the waste side of the equation in the same sentence as the feed side. India generates an estimated 1.71 to 1.90 lakh tonnes of municipal solid waste every day, and 50 to 60 per cent of it is biodegradable — kitchen waste, market waste, vegetable trimmings. That is the raw material the black soldier fly eats. The technology, in her words, could tackle two problems at once: rising fish feed costs and the growing burden of waste disposal, while reducing pressure on the wild fish that fishmeal is made from.
What is the black soldier fly — and what does it actually do?
The black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) is a harmless, non-biting fly found across warm and temperate regions. The adult fly does not eat; it is the larva that does the work. BSF larvae feed voraciously on biodegradable organic waste — kitchen scraps, market waste, food-processing residues — and convert it into their own body mass. That body mass is, by the numbers, a feed ingredient: CMFRI puts the larvae at 40–45% protein, along with fats and amino acids, and its training material puts BSF larval meal at roughly 40–60% crude protein depending on the substrate and processing. Classic research (Sheppard et al., 1994) found larvae can cut the volume of the waste they eat by up to 50%, producing biomass with about 42% protein and up to 35% fat.
CMFRI’s patented process takes this further than simply feeding waste to larvae. The institute has built a BSF ZW zero-waste bio-conversion system at its Kochi headquarters, with separate units for early larval rearing, advanced larval rearing, a self-harvesting bioconversion unit and composting of the leftover frass (the residue the larvae leave behind, which itself becomes compost). The system runs on organic waste including canteen waste and fish sampling waste from the institute itself — the institute eats its own cooking, literally.
Once harvested, the larvae are processed into a defatted meal that can be mixed into fish feed formulations, replacing part of the fishmeal. CMFRI’s trials found the larvae-based feed as effective as conventional feeds, without compromising the growth or performance of the farmed fish, and the institute says the feed improves the overall feed conversion ratio — the amount of feed needed per kilo of fish grown — which is where a farmer’s cost saving would actually show up.
The numbers that matter
| Protein in BSF larvae | 40–45% (CMFRI official page); 40–60% crude protein in larval meal depending on substrate and processing (CMFRI training manual) |
| Fat in BSF biomass | Up to 35% (Sheppard et al., 1994); CMFRI notes larvae are rich in fats and amino acids |
| Waste reduction | Larvae can cut waste volume by up to 50% (Sheppard et al., 1994) |
| Best fishmeal replacement | 40% replacement gave the best growth and feed use in a 90-day GIFT tilapia trial; above 60% replacement, growth fell |
| India’s daily municipal waste | 1.71–1.90 lakh tonnes/day; 50–60% biodegradable (IANS, 10 Nov 2026) |
| Startups producing commercially | Four, using CMFRI’s technology (IANS/PTI, 10 Nov 2026) |
| India fish production | 197.75 lakh tonnes in 2024-25, up from 141.64 lakh tonnes in 2019-20 (NFDB) |
The tilapia trial: how much fishmeal can the larvae really replace?
The honest answer is: a good share, not all of it. In a 90-day trial on GIFT tilapia, researchers formulated six diets in which BSF larvae meal replaced fishmeal protein at 0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100%. The fish fed the 40% replacement diet showed the best growth performance and feed utilisation, and at that level the diet cost Rs 129.97 — without compromising on price compared with the control diet. But pushing the replacement above 60% led to a significant reduction in growth and feed utilisation, and the 100% replacement diet was the most expensive of the set at Rs 147.90.
That is the number farmers should remember: 40% is the sweet spot in this trial, and more is not better. Any feed seller promising a total fishmeal replacement should be asked to show the trial data. CMFRI’s own position is the same — BSF meal is a viable substitute for part of the fishmeal and soybean in a diet, not a magic ingredient that replaces everything.
The 21-day winter school: what is happening in Kochi right now
The winter school that opened on 10 November runs for 21 days, through Monday, 30 November 2026. It is organised by CMFRI’s Marine Biotechnology, Fish Nutrition and Health Division and sponsored by ICAR. According to CMFRI Director Dr Grinson George, the school aims to build technical skills and promote new methods of fish feed production, and the technology could improve fish production and make aquaculture more sustainable as global demand for aquatic food rises.
Dr Pillai used the inauguration to widen the frame beyond a single insect. She stressed the need to develop feed ingredients from locally available resources — and named them: insects, microalgae, seaweeds, aquatic plants, fermented products and waste from fruit and vegetable processing. The black soldier fly is the furthest along of those options at CMFRI, but it is one item on a longer list, and farmers should expect more such technologies to follow the same path from lab to market.
One thing the school is not: it is a training programme, not a subsidy and not a feed distribution scheme. There is no announced grant, no free feed and no application window attached to it. Its value to a farmer is the knowledge — and the signal that ICAR is putting institutional weight behind insect protein.
Who is already making this feed?
Four startups are now in commercial production of fish feed using CMFRI’s technology, according to the announcements of 10 November 2026. Only one of them is named in the public announcements: Amala Ecoclean, a startup focused on sustainable waste management, to which CMFRI transferred the technology under a memorandum of understanding signed by Director Dr Grinson George and Amala Ecoclean director Joseph Niclavose. The transfer was reported in October 2024, and the two sides have continued collaborating on research and development to optimise the feed for different fish species and farming conditions.
The other three startups are not named in the announcements, so this post does not name them either. What matters for a farmer is the direction of travel: a technology that was a laboratory result in 2024 is now a commercial product made by four companies in 2026. That is a fast journey by the standards of aquaculture research, and it is the reason the winter school exists — to train the people who will run the next wave of production.
What this means for a fish farmer: five practical steps
1. Ask your feed supplier about insect-protein feeds. If you buy compounded feed, ask whether the supplier stocks a diet containing BSF larval meal, and at what inclusion level. The research says 40% fishmeal replacement is the proven level for tilapia — ask for the trial data behind any product you are offered.
2. Do not rear larvae and mix your own feed without training. BSF rearing looks simple — waste in, larvae out — but feed formulation is not. Getting the protein, fat and amino acid balance wrong costs growth, and the trial data shows that overdoing the replacement hurts performance. The safe route is a commercial feed made with the technology, or formal training first.
3. If you run a hatchery or a processing unit, look at your own waste. Fish processing waste, canteen waste and market waste are feedstock. CMFRI’s own zero-waste unit runs on exactly that kind of material. A processing plant that pays to dispose of waste today could be supplying a feed ingredient tomorrow — talk to the institute’s technology transfer office about how the model works.
4. Watch the winter school’s outputs. A 21-day school produces trained people and, usually, a training manual. CMFRI’s training material on BSF biovalorisation is already published through its eprints repository. If you are a fisheries student or an extension worker, that material is the cheapest way into the subject.
5. Keep fishmeal in the picture — for now. BSF meal replaces part of the fishmeal, not all of it. Plan your feed budget on a partial replacement, and judge any product on growth and feed conversion, not on the story. The numbers to demand are the ones in this post: protein content, inclusion level, and trial growth data.
Four honest limits to keep in mind
1. Only one of the four startups is named. The announcements say four startups are producing commercially, but they name only Amala Ecoclean. Do not assume a particular brand you see online is one of the four unless the company itself says so.
2. No retail price is published. Neither the announcements nor CMFRI’s official page gives a price for BSF-based feed, so this post claims no saving in rupees per kilo. The cost argument rests on the trial data — better feed conversion and a cheaper protein source — not on a price list.
3. The replacement ceiling is real. Above 60% fishmeal replacement, the tilapia trial showed worse growth. BSF meal is a partial substitute, and anyone selling it as a total fishmeal replacement is going beyond the evidence.
4. This is not a scheme with money attached. There is no subsidy, grant or free-feed window announced with the winter school. Farmers looking for financial support should check the usual channels — PMMSY components for feed mills and inputs through their District Fisheries Office — rather than expecting this announcement to carry one.
Frequently asked questions
What is black soldier fly feed?
Fish feed in which part of the fishmeal is replaced by meal made from black soldier fly larvae. The larvae are reared on biodegradable organic waste, harvested, and processed into a defatted meal that is mixed into feed formulations.
How much protein do BSF larvae have?
CMFRI puts the larvae at 40–45% protein, with fats and amino acids. Its training material puts BSF larval meal at roughly 40–60% crude protein depending on the substrate the larvae were fed and how they were processed.
Can BSF meal fully replace fishmeal?
No — not according to the trial evidence. In a 90-day GIFT tilapia trial, 40% replacement gave the best growth; above 60% replacement, growth fell. Treat it as a partial replacement.
Is the feed already on the market?
Yes. Four startups are producing fish feed commercially using CMFRI’s patented technology. The only one named in the announcements is Amala Ecoclean, which received the technology from CMFRI under an MoU.
What is the winter school, and who is it for?
A 21-day ICAR-sponsored training programme on integrated BSF-based feed technology at ICAR-CMFRI, Kochi, running 10–30 November 2026. It is aimed at building technical skills in the new feed technology — researchers, students and industry professionals, not a farmer subsidy scheme.
Where does the waste come from?
Household and market biodegradable waste, food-processing residues, and — in CMFRI’s own pilot unit — canteen waste and fish sampling waste. India generates an estimated 1.71–1.90 lakh tonnes of municipal solid waste a day, of which 50–60% is biodegradable.
Read more on Fisheries India
- Fish Waste to Food: CIFT’s Chitopro Goes Commercial — ICAR-CIFT’s technology turning shrimp shell waste and fish scale waste into chitosan-enriched foods.
- CIFE Opens 14 Fisheries Courses: Shrimp, Biofloc & More — ICAR-CIFE’s November–December 2026 training calendar, including shrimp farming and biofloc courses starting 16 November.
- Fish Output Up 39.6% — NFDB’s New Plan for Fish Farmers — India’s fish production reached 197.75 lakh tonnes in 2024-25, and what the NFDB’s 13th Governing Body meeting means for farmers.
- Gujarat’s Ponds Beat the Sea: Inland Fish Up 37% — how inland aquaculture is now doing the heavy lifting in Gujarat’s fish production.
Official links and sources
- ICAR-CMFRI — ICAR-CMFRI develops eco-friendly fish feed using black soldier fly larvae (official: 40–45% protein, defatted meal, trials, improved feed conversion, Amala Ecoclean MoU)
- The Print (PTI) — Organic waste can be alternative protein source for aquaculture: ICAR official (10 Nov 2026: winter school inauguration, Dr Devika Pillai, four startups, patented technology)
- Punjab Kesari (IANS) — ICAR sees organic waste as major protein source for fish feed (10 Nov 2026: waste figures 1.71–1.90 lakh tonnes/day, 50–60% biodegradable)
- CMFRI eprints — Black Soldier Fly larvae based biovalorization: transforming waste into value (2025 training manual chapter: BSF ZW zero-waste system, 40–60% crude protein)
- Nutritional Evaluation and Cost Analysis of Dietary Replacement of Fish Meal with Black Soldier Fly Larvae in the Diet of GIF Tilapia (90-day trial: 40% replacement best; above 60% worse; diet costs)
All facts above were verified on 12 November 2026 against the official ICAR-CMFRI website, the PTI and IANS reports of 10 November 2026, and the research sources cited above. The winter school was inaugurated on Tuesday, 10 November 2026 and runs for 21 days through Monday, 30 November 2026. Only one of the four commercial startups is named in the public announcements, and no retail price for BSF-based feed has been published — neither is claimed here. India’s fish production and seafood export figures are as published in our earlier fact-checked coverage. Images in this post are illustrations.