Already hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, shrimp farmers in Bagerhat district have been dealt another severe blow this year -- incessant showers and consequent tidal surges. This year, shrimps, crabs and different species of fish worth over Tk 6 crore have been swept away by tidal surges with more than 8,000 shrimp enclosures going under water across the southern district, pushing many farmers to the brink of starvation. In Chanditola village of Bagerhat’s Rampal upazila, for instance, most of the farmers have lost their shrimp enclosures to the late-monsoon showers and tidal surges. READ: Bagerhat fruit farmer eyes foreign markets to expand thriving business. The scenario is the same in villages across other upazilas of the district, prompting the District Shrimp Farmers’ Association to demand from the government an insurance scheme for their members to protect them from such unexpected losses.

Bangladesh should go for commercial cultivation of vannamei species of shrimp or king prawn to capture the global market. The king prawn currently accounts for 80% of global market share, where Bangladesh has no presence. Bangladesh is falling behind as commercial cultivation of the species is still far away. It's now mostly in the stage of pilot projects. Also read: Govt determined to end shrimp production & exportation problems: Rezaul This subject was discussed on Sunday by shrimp exporters and cultivators in a seminar at the Khulna’s Shrimp Tower. At the seminar, they demanded that commercial cultivation of vannamei be allowed instead of running pilot projects. Exporters and cultivators are thus unable to get loans, they said. Also read: Shrimp farmers count losses from cyclone in Koyra Speakers at the seminar said that there is no alternative to vannamei as the production of tiger shrimp and prawn are decreasing in the country. To save the waning shrimp industry, government’s intervention is needed along with the permission to cultivate vannamei commercially. Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association has been appealing to the government for the last 20 years to allow the cultivation of vannamei shrimp to keep the shrimp industry alive. As a result, the government allowed the pilot cultivation of this variety of shrimp in September 2019. The project is being piloted at the Paikgachha Saltwater Center in Khulna under the Department of Fisheries and the Fisheries Research Institution. The average production is more than 9 tons per hectare. Read Shrimps inflated with jelly seized in Jashore The association provided statistics that show the average production of tiger shrimp in Bangladesh is 341 kg per hectare. In neighbouring India, the average production of vannamei is 7,102 per kg hectare. This means that the production of vannamei is 6,761 kg more per hectare than that of tiger shrimp. Vice President of Bangladesh Frozen Food Exporters Association S. Humayun Kabir said that due to lack of raw material (shrimp), only 28 out of 105 frozen fish processing and exporting companies in the country are operational and remaining have closed. The production is meeting only 10-15 per cent of the capacity of the companies and as a result, the processing cost is also increasing. This industry has come to the brink of collapse. To revive this industry, there is no alternative to increasing production by cultivating vannamei. Fourteen other Asian countries have been exporting vannamei, he said. Read Crocodile rescued at Bagerhat shrimp enclosure freed in the Sundarbans He demanded that permission be given for commercial production of vannamei shrimp and save the industry.

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