The shrimp farmers in Khulna district are struggling to cope up with the Covid-19 pandemic effect amid the low price of shrimp. At the beginning of the pandemic, the shrimp farmers were counting a huge loss due to the high price of fish fry and fish feed and the drop in shrimp prices also added to their woes during the outbreak. Fisheries officials, frozen shrimp export organizations and shrimp farmers said frozen shrimp export is the second largest sector in the country and shrimp is being cultivated in Khulna, Bagerhat, Satkhira and other districts in the country. Read Lockdown: Sirajganj dairy farmers in trouble again The frozen shrimp organisations have stopped collecting shrimp from the farmers. As a result the prices of shrimp have fallen in the local market, which affected the shrimp farmers badly. Toufique Mahmud, fish inspection and quality control inspector, said a total of 29,540 metric tonnes of shrimp has been exported from Khulna region in the 2019-2020 fiscal year. The market value of the shrimp was Tk 2,360 crore. But in the current 2020-2021 fiscal years, some 21,490 metric tonnes of shrimp has been exported and the price of the shrimp was found Tk 1,571 crore, which showed a good sign in the export sector, he said. Also read: Bagerhat shrimp industry reeling under double whammy of rain and drought

The shrimp farmers here who counted repeated losses due to virus attacks in farms and natural disasters are now showing greater interest in crab cultivation as it has proved to be more profitable than shrimp and its demand in the international market is on the rise.