The government of Indonesia has announced it will significantly boost the country’s production and export of shrimp, Indonesian SWA online magazine reported on 10 March.
Aquaculture Director General at Indonesia’s Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Slamet Soebjakto said in a statement the effort will be made as part of an initiative to support economic growth and job creation.
The decision came out of a meeting of various government ministries and agencies taking place on Monday and Tuesday, 9 and 10 March. Six working groups have been established to back the goal of increasing the country’s shrimp exports by 250 percent over the next four years.
Indonesia has set the target of producing 578,579 metric tons (MT) of shrimp in 2024, a massive increase over its 2018 total of 197,433 MT. Of that total, Indonesia hopes to export 363,067 MT of shrimp in 2024, up sharply from the 145,226 MT it exported in 2018.
In his announcement, Soebjakto said Indonesia has great potential to expand its shrimp farming sector, as just 600,000 hectares out of 2.96 million total available hectares has been utilized for shrimp farming.
To hit its export target, Indonesia will pay attention to “market absorption,” with the aim of increasing shipments to the United States, Japan, China, and the European Union.
Soebjakto acknowledged the country’s current processing capacity is not enough to handle the future production target. Currently, most of the country’s shrimp processing plants are located in the western part of the country, Soebjakto said. In response, the government will push for the addition of more processing capacity spread across the nation, Soebjakto said.
Soebjakto said the government will continue to ensure tight coordination of the working groups to further development of infrastructure, human resources, and regulations to accelerate the growth of the shrimp sector.
Shrimp is the main seafood export commodity in Indonesia. The export value of shrimp contributed to nearly 40 percent of Indonesia’s fisheries products exports in 2018, and sector has started attracting attention from private companies following the success of a sustainable farming model introduced by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, the Nusa Daily reported in February.
Currently, the ministry is implementing the model in a number of potential areas, Nusa Daily said.
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