Bangladesh has initiated several trials of vannamei farming in a bid to revive its ailing shrimp industry, which is currently dependent on higher-priced black tiger shrimp.
The first batch of one million vannamei post-larvae imported from Thailand has been raised in four ponds operated by the Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI) in Paikgachha, Khulna, Bangladesh, The Daily Star reported on 6 April.
The cultivation at the BFRI ponds will keep the shrimp from interacting with the surrounding areas to avoid any potential harmful impacts to the environment. The trial project will help determine whether Bangladesh should switch its shrimp economy toward a focus on vannamei.
MU Seafoods, which has worked with local non-government organization Sushilan on the project since 2019, said the culture of vannamei in Bangladesh will address the raw material issues.
"One of our main challenges is the shortage of raw materials. We will get raw materials for processing in my factory if our pilot farming is successful," MU Seafoods Managing Director Shyamal Das said.
Separately, Agribusiness Enterprise Development and Services of Bangladesh received permission from local government to conduct a trial project to farm vannamei in Cox's Bazar and the project is now underway, a company partner, Shafquat Nizam, confirmed to SeafoodSource in October 2020.
The Bangladeshi government's trials come amid rising demand for vannamei shrimp from local processors and exporters. These companies have seen their sales of black tiger shrimp and freshwater shrimp decline consistently since 2014 in the face of 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 over fears of harm to native species, including black tiger shrimp.
"We do not have an alternative to run exports without vannamei cultivation and I think it won't have any effect on the environment," Sushilan CEO Mostafa Nuruzzaman told The Daily Star.
Kazi Belayet Hossain, the former president of the Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association, told the Star the production cost of black tiger shrimp grown in Bangladesh is higher than vannamei, which limits its competitiveness in the global marketplace.
Photo courtesy of C.Lotongkum/Shutterstock
