Faiza Tehseen

Pakistan can earn the much-needed foreign exchange by promoting shrimp farming and exporting its value-added products. Domestically, the shrimp farming can help overcome food insecurity to some extent and add another valuable segment to the fish farming industry of the country. 

Discussing with WealthPK the importance of shrimp farming, Director General of Department of Fisheries, Punjab, Dr Sikandar Hayat, said being an export commodity, shrimp was a high-value species having different varieties, including marine, vannamei, which is tolerant to low salinity, and rosenbergii, which can bear fresh water.

He said being a marine species, shrimp flourished in saline waters. “Normally the marine salinity is 30 to 35 parts per thousand (ppt), sometimes exceeding 40 ppt. We are experimenting with producing such species, which can survive at 3 ppt. The water salinity in Sargodha district is 3-4 ppt, while in Muzafargarh, it is from 3-4 ppt to 5-6 ppt. Fortunately, in our Kallar Kahar salt range, salinity is about 27 to 29 ppt, which is ideal for sea bass and shrimps.

Salinity of Manthar Lake in southern Punjab is also about 9 ppt and can be considered for shrimp production. Another place in southern Punjab is called Robert Farm, where a saline water lake is located. I myself have checked its salinity, which is about 60-80 ppt, which is more than any marine water. With little dilution the lake’s salinity can be brought down to 40 ppt, and then it can be considered for shrimp production.”

He said the fisheries department had done successful trials in Sargodha and Muzaffargarh, while tests in Farooqabad in Shiekhupura district had also shown good results. Sikandar Hayat said through experiments it was found that Lillah area near the Kallar Kahar salt range and Fazalpur, Sialkot, were suitable places for launching shrimp hatcheries. He said these areas contained almost all essential nutritious minerals content required to grow shrimps. He said the government had hired a Thai consultant to prepare feasibility for the purpose.

Sikandar Hayat said two most important factors were needed to be considered for promotion of shrimp farming and its value addition in Pakistan, including seed and feed, which were imported, mostly from Thailand. He, however, said Thailand had stopped the supply during the Covid-19 pandemic, prompting the government to consider establishing shrimp hatcheries and feed processing locally. He said the shrimp farming project would be launched under the public-private partnership mechanism.

Furthermore, the fisheries department’s director general said a Pakistani company had entered into a joint venture with a Thai firm to set up a shrimp hatchery in Karachi. “Matured shrimps from the Karachi hatchery will be supplied to Sindh and Punjab provinces.” He said the Karachi hatchery having capacity of 50,000 shrimps would be set up by June this year. He also pointed out that not a single mill in Pakistan was preparing the fine quality feed for shrimps. He said for the indigenous production of shrimp feed, two foreign companies had signed a contract with the fisheries department.

Sikandar Hayat said a project to promote shrimp farming and impart technical training to farmers had been lying with the federal government since 2021, and hoped it would get approval for its implementation. Talking about shrimp farming, director of fisheries Iftikhar Ahmad Chaudhary told WealthPK that once the project got going, more investments from the private sector would come, which was a good omen for Pakistan in the long run.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk