LAHORE: The Punjab Fisheries Department (PFD) will extend subsidies to the farmers for promotion of profitable business of the shrimp farming by the productive usage of high-saline land/barren land.

“The Department will extend a subsidy of Rs 120,000 per acre to the farmers for a maximum of 7200 acres of land for construction of shrimp farms in the province and applications from the interested farmers will be invited soon.

The Department will also extend a 75 percent subsidy on seed for the first year of such a farm and 50 per cent in the second year to attract the farmers to this specie which is sold at higher rates than fish in the domestic and export market,” sources in the fisheries department told Business Recorder on Tuesday.

They said this scheme is part of a larger project under which a seed hatchery is being developed along the shore-side in the Lasbela area where shrimp seed will be produced and later it will be used for farming in different areas of the country.

They said shrimp seed can only be produced in salt water while it can be grown into full shrimps in fresh water. They said the federal government had already conducted a pilot project successfully in this regard but for that seed and feed were imported from Thailand.

“Now the government is planning to produce seed within the country through the hatchery under construction in Balochistan,” the sources added. However, they said the proposed subsidy on seed and feed calculated at the initial stage had doubled because of an upward surge in greenback prices so it was being recalculated.

Earlier, the department had estimated extending a subsidy of Rs 400,000 per farm but initial recalculations were now tipping it at Rs 1,000,000. Director Admin & Extension, Fisheries Department Punjab, Iftikhar Ahmad, on contact confirmed the project and said the hatchery being developed by the federal government would be operational and producing seed by June 2025 and in the meantime seed and feed could be imported from Thailand.

He said the preparation of feed for shrimp would also be encouraged while there were also plans to set up two hatcheries in the province. He said shrimps were one of the most important exportable commodities having a high demand and price in the international market.

Its farming would also develop the farmers financially while producing nutritional food for the domestic market as well.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022