(By doing so) we may be able to become (one of) the global top 10 (shrimp) exporters.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) Ministry is striving to meet the 2024 shrimp production target of two million tons by evaluating existing ponds, revitalizing traditional ponds, and building ponds based on regional-based industrial scale modeling.

The main challenge to realizing the national shrimp production target is limited land procurement for shrimp cultivation, KKP Minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono said during a meeting with Commission IV of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) here on Monday.

"We have carried out the planning for the (regional-based industrial scale) modeling, but we are still looking for land (to build shrimp ponds)," he informed.

Finding land has not been easy, for instance, one of the lands obtained by the ministry turned out to be vulnerable to flooding, he said.

"One of the best candidates (of land for shrimp cultivation) is located in West Sulawesi (which was procured) in cooperation with the Environment and Forestry Ministry," he informed.

Currently, Indonesia has 247 thousand hectares of shrimp ponds, but unfortunately, their productivity is still very low at only 0.6 tons per hectare per year on average, the minister noted.

He said he expected the efforts to revitalize traditional ponds and turn them into semi-intensive or intensive cultivation ponds to boost shrimp production by at least 15–20 tons per hectare.

"(By doing so) we may be able to become (one of) the global top 10 (shrimp) exporters. It requires no small amount of money—no less than Rp2 trillion to Rp3 trillion (is needed) to develop it (the shrimp cultivation sector in Indonesia)," he added.

Shrimp is a fishery commodity, which enjoys great demand in the world market. In fact, the global shrimp market demand is second only to that of salmon.

During the 2015–2020 period, Indonesia contributed 6.9 percent to the world’s shrimp supply. Hence, shrimp farming can help in the recovery of the national economy and improve the welfare of the community.

In 2021, the value of Indonesia's shrimp exports reached US$2.2 billion, the highest among other fishery commodities.

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Translator: Ade Junida, Uyu Liman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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