Bagerhat shrimp farmers in hot water

A drop in prices coupled with a rise in feed costs have put shrimp and prawn farmers of Bagerhat in a tight spot.

Exports have fallen for weak demand in the European Union and US amidst apprehensions of a recession as a pandemic fallout and for the Russia-Ukraine war.

Popular consensus is that a chunk of the profits is eaten away by middlemen who source the crustaceans from farmers for exporters. The problems are intensified by repeated natural disasters and diseases.

Shrimp have an average size of about 4 cm to 8 cm while larger individuals are often called prawns.

Every kilogramme (kg) has been selling for Tk 300 to Tk 800 depending on the size in the last couple of days, according to multiple farmers.

In 2021, it was around Tk 400 to Tk 1,400.

Around 2 kilogrammes of feed are required to raise each kilogramme of prawn, from larvae to harvestable size, said Nirmal Kumar Kundu, manager of a government-owned fish spawning farm at Khamar Bari in Bagerhat.

If local feed is used, about 2.5 kg to 3 kg is needed, said Gopal Das, a shrimp farmer of Sangdia of Kachua upazila.

Feed prices have gone up several times over the last couple of years. Currently, a 25 kg bag costs Tk 1,200 to Tk 2,000 whereas it was Tk 800 to Tk 1,600 in 2021.

As for supplements, the price of a 35 kg bag of bran has gone up from Tk 1,200 to Tk 1,700 while a 25 kg bag of Bengal gram from Tk 1,000 to Tk 1,400.

Despite all odds, some 39,871 tonnes of shrimp were produced in Bagerhat in fiscal year 2021-22, up 5 per cent year-on-year.

There are 78,685 shrimp and prawn enclosures on 66,713 hectares of land in Bagerhat, according to the district office of the Department of Fisheries.

Of the production, 24,104 tonnes were exported, similarly up by about 3 per cent.

Nationally, shrimp exports posted a 24 per cent growth to reach $407 million in fiscal year 2021-22, according to the Export Promotion Bureau.

It slumped 32 per cent year-on-year to $183 million in the July-December period of fiscal year 2022-23.

Gopal Das said he has not witnessed such a scenario in the 12 years he has been cultivating shrimp.

Another farmer, Rashid Sheikh of Kakdanga area of Fakirhat upazila, fears he would incur a loss of about Tk 80,000 on his investment of over Tk 2 lakh.

In 2021, he had made a profit of Tk 42,000 from 17 decimals of lands.

"We are gravely worried about any return of our investment. If prices do not increase, we will have no way other than to stop farming," said Chinmoy Das, another farmer of Sreerampur of Kachua upazila.

If the shrimp and prawn can be sold directly to the exporters without interference of the middlemen, farmers will benefit, said Omar Ali, owner of Padma Fish Farm in Faltita Bazar of Fakirhat.

"We seek government steps so that the big traders directly purchase fish from the farmers for the sake of their survival," he said.

Exporters should be encouraged to buy shrimp and prawns directly from farmers, said Bagerhat District Fisheries Officer ASM Russell.

Farmers are losing interest and sustaining the industry requires government incentives for farmers, added Hitler Goldar, chairman of Mulghar Union Parishad.