AP shrimp farmers lose Rs 15cr in 3 mths

Rising rupee and low demand have hit shrimp hatcheries in Andhra Pradesh who have lost Rs 10-15 crore during the last season ended July.

If the situation continues for a couple of months more, a majority of shrimp hatcheries may shut down their operations during the next season, which begins from December, D Varahala Raju, managing director, Rajkamal Hatcheries Private Limited and former president, North Coastal Andhra Shrimp Hatcheries Association, told Business Standard.

Around 50 per cent of the hatchery operators have already stopped shrimp seed production due to heavy losses, he added.

Andhra Pradesh has about 240 shrimp hatcheries with a production capacity of about 16,000 million seeds every year. During the last season (May to July), these hatcheries produced just 4,000-5,000 million seeds due to less demand.

Despite a drop in production, prices were also reduced significantly. Normally, the production cost for each quality shrimp seed is around 22 paise, but during the last season, on an average, hatchery owners sold at only 16-18 paise.

Raju said the dull business has seen many shrimp farmers shift to fish culture, reducing the shrimp culture coverage area by 30 per cent in the current season as compared with the last season.

"Besides, with the demolition of major fish tanks in the Kolleru area by the state government, fish culture has turned out to be more profitable compared with shrimp culture due to shortage of fish production in West Godavari and Krishna districts," he said.