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A sharp fall in the stocking of seeds at shrimp farms is likely to have a toll on the marine food production in the state.
Under realisation of price due to presence of ethoxyquin (an antioxidant) in shrimps and stricter guidelines for obtaining Pre-Harvest Test Certificate (PHTC) from Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) have compelled the farmers to take a cautious stand and go for low stocking.
"Only 60 million seeds have been stocked at various shrimp farms in the state by March, this year, compared to about 200 million seeds last year. This is likely to affect the culture production of shrimps, which may dip by 30 per cent compared to about 8,000 tonne last year," said Prava Ranajan Patnaik, managing director, Falcon Marine Exports Ltd, a leading exporter of the country.
Patnaik attributed the decline in stocking to the stricter implementation of the PHTC system norms.
Sources say, out of 16,000 hectares under aquaculture in the state, only 4,327 hectares belonged to registered farms. While 4,651 farmers are registered with Coastal Aquaculture Authority (CAA), 70 per cent of the farmers are unregistered.
As per the Export Inspection Council notification, all those establishments procuring/processing aquaculture products have to obtain PHTC from MPEDA after due test of their produce prior to the harvest so as to establish that the stock procured by them are harvested from ponds which are free from the residues of harmful anti-biotics like Nitrofuran metabiolities and chloramphenicol.
Farmers say, they are going slow on stocking due to the huge loss suffered by them after imposition of restriction by Japan on import of shrimps.
The restriction has resulted in under realisation of prices, said Manoranjan Panda, Vice President, Odisha Shrimp Farmers Association.
Expressing concern on the issue, G Mohanty, President, Sea Food Exporter Association of India (SEAI) - Odisha region said we are keeping our fingers crossed on the likely impacts on the exports.
Japan had imposed compulsory testing for Ethoxyquin in the shrimp consignments received from India on the basis of default standard of 0.01 parts per million (ppm). Upon the request of SEAI, the Union Ministry of Commerce had sent a three member delegation to Japan led by MPEDA chairperson, Leena Nair, and the director of the Export Inspection Council, S K Saxena last year to resolve the issue.
