A new OMR 20 million (EUR 45.7 million, USD 51.7 million) shrimp project in Oman has commenced commercial production.
The project was developed by Fisheries Development Oman – an affiliate of Oman Investment Authority – in the Qurun region on a 500 hectare piece of land. The facility has a production capacity of 2,100 metric tons (MT) annually an output expected to be expanded to 4,600 MT by 2023, according to a top official in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources, the Muscat Daily reported.
“The project is in line with the objectives of Oman Vision 2040, which aims to increase gross domestic product and raise the contribution of non-oil sectors to the national economy,” the official said.
Components of the project include a maturation unit for egg production, with a capacity of 1.2 billion baby shrimp per year, a postlarval production unit with a capacity of 400 million PL, and a nursery unit with a capacity of 250 million juvenile shrimp, according to the report.
Moreover, it has 220 grow-out ponds measuring 5,041 square meters each, a facility for pre-processing and packing, administrative offices, warehouses, a laboratory, maintenance workshops, and a labor camp with full facilities.
The government official said commercialization of the shrimp project paves the way for the creation of several business opportunities for seafood related small and medium enterprises (SMEs), in addition to opening “the door for setting up added value projects for shrimp production.”
“It is expected to promote SMEs, impart technology, and enhance capacity for the project’s national staff – 40 percent Omanis. The project has set up a plan for Omanizing all positions in the coming years,” the official said.
The new shrimp-farming project has come online at a time when Oman has been singled out as one of the leading aquaculture producing countries within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, alongside the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Oman, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia are “encouraging foreign and local investments in aquaculture developments by providing a number of incentives for the sector, as well as providing fingerlings of local species, creating aquaculture frameworks, relaxing institutional and investment constraints, and mapping out suitable sites for development” according to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
“These incentives and the highly favorable supply and demand fundamentals from fish-farming coupled with the steady increase in fish prices have made the aquaculture in the region as an attractive investment proposition to the private sectors,” FAO said.
Current aquaculture investments are building on the 2014 decision by Oman to issue permits to 19 projects valued at USD 332 million (EUR 294 million), part of the envisaged USD 1.3 billion (EUR 1.15 billion) investment in Oman’s fisheries-development plan between 2013 and 2020.
The aquaculture plan targeted output of 2,000 MT of shrimp and 500 MT of fish on 15,000 hectares that has been found suitable for fish farming in the country, according to FAO.
Oman’s projections show the sultanate could earn as much as USD 5.2 billion (EUR 4.6 billion) from fish-farming between 2030 and 2040, with an estimated output of 220,000 MT for the period.
Photo courtesy of Fisheries Development Oman
