Farmers in Myanmar are calling for financial support to save the businesses of breeding shrimp and prawn, which are going downwards dramatically, official sources said.
Business leaders with the Myanmar Shrimp Association stressed the urgent need for a strategy with systematic financial support to save the business in despair.
“Weakness in infrastructures such as electricity, ice production, cold storage factories, transportation and laboratories have caused hindrances to the aquaculture in Myanmar,” experts were quoted as saying.
According to the sources, the prawn hatching sector has suffered loss for two successive years due to disease, dramatically decreasing production of baby prawn from 300 million in 2012 to 30 million in 2013 and 20 million in 2014.
The number of prawn hatching firms has also reduced from about 20 in 2012 to around 15 now.
Only four to five hatching firms out of the 15 can operate the business currently, the sources said, warning that if this situation continues, prawn and shrimp hatching sector will fall seriously as alarmed by businessmen. Xinhua
According to statistics, Myanmar produced 200-300 tonnes of prawn a year, an amount inadequate to supply for domestic consumption.
Veteran businesspeople with the sector have called on the government to seek international assistance and upgrade the technology for the prawn breeding sector. Xinhua
