BHUBANESWAR: Shrimp farmers across coastal districts in Odisha are staring at a huge loss and uncertain future under the impact of the US import tariff hike. The state exports marine products worth over Rs 4,700 crore to different countries with the major chunk, around Rs 2,000 crore, to the US markets.
Odisha is the fifth-largest vannamei (whiteleg) shrimp producer in the country with annual production of over 30,000 tonne. The vannamei shrimp is cultivated in brackish water farms across Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Puri and Ganjam districts. Tapan Barman, a shrimp farmer from Balasore, said they spend around `6 lakh per acre for vannamei cultivation and earn Rs 7 lakh-Rs 8 lakh from exports.
“Shrimps weighing more than 35 gm are exported to the US while China and other countries take shrimps between 10 gm to 20 gm. We cultivate shrimp on around 70 acre of land. This time we have decided to take up farming on 40 acre as we fear our ponds may be left unsold if buyers back out due to export volatility,” he said.
Hatcheries, feed manufacturers, transporters, processing plants and exporters in the state’s shrimp value chain are also feeling the heat.
“The impact is going to be catastrophic as the US importers have already slashed their demand and the price. Farmers will not be able to recover costs and allied industries will also be affected. We are at a crossroad, as it will be difficult to divert the shrimps to other countries like Russia and China considering the varieties they seek,” said president of seafood exporters’ association Kamalesh Mishra.
Along with the small and marginal farmers, who form the bulk of Odisha’s shrimp growers, the workers will be the hardest hit. As per an estimate, the tariff will affect the livelihood of around 15 lakh people engaged in the marine sector in the state.
Industry leaders have urged the Centre and the state government to step in to help farmers diversify into other markets along with some short-term relief in the form of subsidies to prevent farmers from abandoning shrimp cultivation. Chairman of Falcon Marine Exports Tara Ranjan Patnaik has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting his urgent intervention to safeguard the shrimp industry and farmers’ livelihood. He has suggested to incorporate shrimp into the daily diet of the food supply chains of the armed forces, paramilitary forces and government-supported nutrition and food distribution schemes to “transform this crisis into an opportunity”.
Additional chief secretary of state Industries department Hemant Sharma said the state government is mulling several options to tide over the crisis. “Discussion is on to extend the interest subvention on working capital for the seafood sector under the Chief Minister’s Scheme for Reimbursement of Interest to MSMEs (CM-SRIM),” he said.