The Hindu : Kerala News : Closed system shrimp culture may woo back insurers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 31, 2005

Kerala

Kerala

Closed system shrimp culture may woo back insurers

By K. A. Martin

KOCHI, JAN. 30. Insurers may be wooed back to shrimp farms in Kerala with the rise in popularity among farmers of a package for closed system shrimp culture developed by the Centre for Fish Disease Diagnosis and Management (CFDDM) of the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat).

Nearly 60 per cent of the shrimp farms in Kerala wound up operations about seven years ago in the wake of the first outbreak of the white spot disease. The virus continues to blight open system farms annually and insurers have been a wary lot.

Bad experience

``Our experiences have been bad all over India. But we are looking at some new proposals,'' said a senior official of the New India Assurance Company here on Sunday.

He said that the proposals would be sent to the technical department for assessment. ``We are not blocked to the idea of providing insurance coverage,'' he added.

The coordinator of the CFDDM, I. S. Bright Singh, said that the success of the closed system shrimp culture in which no water exchange takes place had aroused the interest of the insurers of late.

Dr. Singh said that hundred farmers have registered for a February 4 workshop on Closed System Shrimp Culture with Insurance Coverage at CFDDM.

The workshop will be the forum where farmers, technical personnel and insurers would meet to thrash out issues involved in providing insurance coverage to shrimp farms, said Dr. Singh.

Closed system shrimp culture is practised all over the world. The system suited to our place had been perfected by the Centre over the last three years, said Dr. Singh.

He claimed that farms that implemented the CFDDM system recorded more than 70 per cent success.

About 40 farms across the State have adopted the system. These farms extended between one and two hectares recording a production of about one tonne per hectare.

Water quality

The closed system culture of shrimps uses a biological process to maintain the quality of water. And, since the farms in Kerala do not use aeration, the stocks are low at four to five animals per square metre. This is sufficient to maintain the profitability of the farms, said Dr. Singh.

He expected that the closed system shrimp culture practice would catch on so that shrimp farming would become as widespread as it used to be about a decade ago in the State. Prior to the outbreak of the white spot disease, shrimp farming had spread over 1,500 hectares. This had shrunk by about 60 per cent now.

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