June 20, 2005

More US crop farmers venturing into shrimp farming
 

A tobacco farmer in the United States has reportedly invested US$30,000 to grow Malaysian freshwater shrimp in two ponds, which take up about two acres out of his 1,000-acre farm.

According to the farmer, the hot and humid weather in Western Virginia seems to match the shrimps' Southeast Asian homeland. He hopes that the shrimps would have grown as large as 9 inches by harvest time in late September.

The farmer is seeking good sales by ice-packing the shrimps and selling them for about US$7/pound compared with imported shrimps from India at US$12/pound.

Global competition and falling tobacco prices have led many US tobacco farmers to diversify their crops, or venture into a different sector.