The government of Pakistan undertook a pilot project in 2019. Based in Punjab, the objective of this project was to develop this industry through semi-intensive shrimp farming. A total of 3,500 farms were started under this project.
According to ProPakistani, the government has now made a revision to this pilot project. They decided to increase the number of shrimp farms from 3,500 to 10,600 under this revised pilot shrimp farming cluster development project.
Earlier the budget for this pilot shrimp farming cluster development project was USD 24 million (based on current exchange rate), which was mainly for the province of Punjab. Currently, the revisions are being extended to Sindh, Balochistan and Islamabad, capital region.
The pilot project is a part of the Agricultural Transformation Plan (ATP) and technology adoption efforts in the Pakistan shrimp farming. It will be jointly implemented by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, Fisheries Development Board (FDB) and Provincial Divisions of Fisheries (Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh).
It has also been decided in revised plan that instead of subsidizing the purchase of shrimp seed and feed by the private sector, the development of shrimp farms should be subsidized including construction of ponds and development of associated infrastructure.
Recently the committee has fixed the ratio of farm construction subsidy. It will be USD 536 per acre for a maximum of 10 acres per farmer and for development of shrimp farms on 7,200 acres in Punjab, 1,100 in Balochistan and 2,300 acres in Sindh.
The committee also decided that 50% of the cost of farm construction would be shared by private shrimp farmers, selected by the provincial fisheries department. While the remaining 50% of the cost would be shared equally by the federal and provincial governments.
The proposed model is primarily based on semi-intensive Pakistan shrimp farming culture. As per the plan, a low stocking density of 60,000 shrimp seeds per acre of pond will be carried out. Commercial shrimp feed will be used and aeration support will be introduced during periods of severe oxygen deficiency.
The expected yield per acre is around 1450-1500 kg with a 30-gm average weight, which may fetch USD 3.60 – 3.80 per kg. According to the project plan, it will be completed by 2024.
