August 28, 2013

Indonesia's shrimp production expected to rise

The Maritime and Fishery Ministry of Indonesia has set the country's shrimp production target at 608,000 tonnes this year, a sharp increase from 2012's 415,703 tonnes.

Fish Breeding director general, Slamet Soebjakto, said the target was based on the production volume, which had already reached 320,000 tonnes in the first half of 2013.

Slamet also said Indonesia has greater potential to increase production compared to other competitors, especially those in Southeast Asia. The country has 1.2 million hectares of potential area for shrimp breeding with effective potency of 773,000 hectares, which could make Indonesia the world's largest shrimp producer and exporter.

The pilot project of shrimp ponds developed since 2012 in six regencies in northern coast of West Java, and Banten, would be expanded this year to 28 regencies in six provinces, including Central Java, East Java, South Sulawesi, West Nusa Tenggara and Lampung.

The opportunity is wider with the outbreak of Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS) in a number of other producers in Asia, such as Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia, he added.

However, Indonesia's ambition to become the world's top producer is not without challenge. Currently, Indonesia is confronted with an open market competition in the region under the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) scheme.

"The competition is sharp and in order to survive, producers have to be more competitive," Slamet said, "for that purpose they have to continue to keep pace with the breeding technology."

The Maritime and Fishery Ministry has launched a shrimp industrialisation programme, which is expected to boost the country's shrimp production. Regulation and incentives are also needed for sustainable breeding system, Slamet said.

Synergy and cooperation among the stakeholders are needed in the programme of shrimp industrialisation to improve the quality and safety of the food commodity, he added.