The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) started supplying high-health black tiger shrimp seeds from its new Multispecies Aquaculture Complex at Vallarpadam on Monday. The inaugural sale of the seeds was done by MPEDA chairman K.S. Srinivas, who handed over a lakh of them to former Kerala Director General of Police Hormis Tharakan, who is also a shrimp farmer.
The MPEDA is a statutory body under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and has developed the seeds with the help of its research wing Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Aquaculture, according to a press release here.
Mr. Srinivas said lessons from the international market had prompted the MPEDA to promote the production of black tiger shrimp in Kerala. He said black tiger was the dominant cultured shrimp in India till a decade ago. In 2009, the country began experiencing non-availability of disease-free seeds of the species, prompting aquaculture farmers to shift focus to exotic vannamei species.
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The MPEDA has now decided to encourage and expand the production of black tiger shrimp endemic to South Asia. Production of black tiger could support shrimp exports much more in the long run, said Mr. Srinivas.
Of late, tiger shrimp’s higher price and increasing demand in the international market has led India’s farming community to restart farming of the variety. To meet that, the country needs more disease-free seeds of black tiger.