Agribusiness Enterprise Development and Services of Bangladesh has received permission from local government to conduct a trial project to farm vannamei in Cox's Bazar, according to company’s partner Shafquat Nizam.
Local media reported earlier this month the Department of Fisheries (DOF) decided to give the trial project to Agribusiness Enterprise in a meeting in September but the company said at that time had not yet received notification of the transfer.
The permit from the DOF is effective within one year from the day of stocking, Nizam, who is also in charge of Agribusiness Enterprise’s business and project development, told SeafoodSource on 28 October.
The company is currently in talks with its technology providers for farm design-layout, management protocols, and production module design.
“Due to COVID-19, travel bans, and complicated bureaucratic policies, we are taking our time for implementation of this project and make it feasible. As you may know, shrimp farming is not so easy and to make sustainable production of an exotic species such as L. vannamei in Bangladesh, one year is not enough,” Nizam said.
The project will be put under the supervision of the DoF and Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI).
The Bangladeshi government’s move came amid rising demand for vannamei shrimp from local processors and exporters. These companies have seen their sales of locally-produced black tiger shrimp and freshwater shrimp decline consistently since fiscal year 2014-2015 due to fierce competition from lower-priced vannamei shrimp produced in China, India, Southeast Asia, and Ecuador.
The government, however, was reluctant to allow farming of vannamei shrimp in the country as they feared that the culture of the species would be harmful for native species, including black tiger shrimp.
DoF Deputy Director of Aquaculture Azizul Haque said post-larvae imported for the pilot projects must be pathogen-free. They will be quarantined and tested at labs authorized by the DoF and BFRI before they can be grown in the trial farms.
Before Agribusiness Enterprise, non-governmental organization Shushilan and another seafood companies had last year received approval from the government to carry out trial projects in Khulna, a key shrimp region in the country. However, they have not started their projects yet, according to The Daily Star.
Photo courtesy of C. Lotongkum/Shutterstock
