Indian Shrimp Farming hard Hit hard Times

Fate of large number of Indian shrimp farmers and seafood exporters hangs in balance due to slipshod attitude of the Indian Fisheries Department, alleged Gorachand Mohanty, president of Orissa chapter of Sea Food Exporters’ Association of India, while talking to reporters here recently.

At least 50 percent shrimp farmers of the India stopped farming this year due to fall in shrimp prices in the international market last year. The global economic crisis has also affected the sea food industry in the state, said Mohanty.

Many seafood-importing countries have decided to purchase shrimps from only registered shrimp farms.

Also the Indian seafood exporters have decided to purchase shrimps from registered prawn farms from August 1. But the Fisheries Department is yet to register hundreds of shrimp farms, alleged Mohanty. Many shrimp farmers converted their agricultural lands into prawn farms for which the Indian authorities refused to register their farms. ‘’We have urged the department time and again to treat shrimp culture as an agriculture like animal husbandry and poultry farming. But the authorities have turned a deaf ear to our demands, added Mohanty. Due to economic meltdown, the output has gone down by over 50 percent in Orissa, said Mohanty