Bangladesh is endowed with a porous 580-kilometre coastline, its brackish water in Khulna, Bagerhat, and Satkhira in the southwest creating a perfect setting for shrimp cultivation. This gives around 800,000 farmers a means of livelihood and each year the country earns some precious dollars by exporting shrimp to Europe, USA and a few other destinations.
However, since hitting its historic high point ($510m) in the 2014-15 financial year, Bangladesh’s earnings from shrimp exports had dropped to $320m in the last fiscal year. The sector showed some promise of a post-Covid rebound in the first six months of the current financial year, but nothing significant.
Industry sources say a policy indecision on allowing Bangladeshi growers to produce and export highly productive whiteleg shrimp or vannamei has long been holding Bangladesh from competing in the global shrimp export market, which is a whooping $32 billion in yearly trade. By now, nearly 80% of the market is dominated by vannamei.
For too long, Bangladesh has remained content with its traditional shrimp export basket of Bagda (Black Tiger) and freshwater scampi, while the whole world has developed a taste for the vannamei.
By gradually shifting to the vannamei, India has more than doubled its shrimp export earnings between 2009 and 2021. China and the Philippines adopted vannamei in ’80s, while Vietnam and Myanmar also started commercial vannamei farming over two decades ago.
As the adage goes, it’s better late than never. Bangladesh’s Department of Fisheries (DoF) is now coming out of its conservative shell over vannamei and giving permissions to companies to go for trial cultivation, but progress has been very slow. While only three companies managed to get the go ahead, over a dozen others who sought approval for vannamei cultivation are still waiting for their turns to come…