Experts said that Bangladesh’s shrimp production sector continues to be plagued by significant structural problems although there have been some improvements in yields and farmers’ adoption of modern technologies, including in farm and feed management.
They were addressing a press conference at the Centre for Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) auditorium in Dhaka on Monday.
According to them, a decade ago there was much to cheer about the shrimp export performance of Bangladesh, but in recent years the potential of the sector shrank, and the sector seemed to be at an impasse.
Speaking at the event, Dr. Mohammad Mahfujul Haque said most of the shrimp producers in Bangladesh are small farmers who face investment crisis.
“Most of the shrimp enclosures have a structural problem. The shrimp enclosures are mainly farmland. Paddy, vegetables and shrimp are being produced from the land,” he said.
Earlier, CGIAR conducted a scoping study to document the issues faced by the sector including interviews with 25 multi-stakeholder experts to better understand the problems faced by the country’s shrimp sector.
The preliminary results were presented at an Expert Consultation Workshop conducted on Sunday at the CIRDAP premises, hosted by IFPRI.
Stakeholders across the shrimp value chain, including officials from the Department of Fisheries (DoF) and the Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI), met and shared their views on the workshop.
Based on the interviews, the bulk of the challenges appears to be at the production end.
Small farm ponds and rearing shrimp in ghers limit the survival of shrimp and productivity of the farms.
There is a pressing need for infrastructure, especially for deepening ponds and structures for improving water management.
Yet, farmers have little or no financial support, especially from formal institutions, in the absence of collateral for shrimp farming.
There was consensus that shrimp, unlike other species, need technical knowledge. In the absence of such knowledge and the inputs required to do this (for example, timely availability of appropriate feed), shrimp farming becomes a high-risk venture for small farmers.
Bangladesh now has at least three hatcheries that produce Specific Pathogen-Free Post-Larvae (SPF PL) that reduces these risks.
However, the present extensive shrimp farming systems limit the ability of farmers to maintain the biosecurity of farms.
Recent data suggests that most ponds that grow shrimp also grow substantial quantities of fish.
In FY 2010-11, of the total output 2 from “shrimp farms”, as much as 47% were fish. By 2020-21, the share of the fish had grown to 53%.
While such farms limit the scope of specialising and cultivating shrimp intensively, this strategy protects the farmers from the high risks associated with shrimp farming.
This article was originally published on January 24, 2023 by The Daily Sun.
Photo Credit: Sau Yeng, WorldFish