The coronavirus pandemic has hit the shrimp industry hard as a total of 290 export orders worth Tk 4.6 million has been cancelled in a span of a month.
Following the massive cancellation of the orders, the fish exporting companies have stopped buying fish from the shrimp cultivators. Meanwhile, some of the factories have sent their employees on leave.
Data shows more than half a million people cultivate fish in the 90 per cent of their agricultural lands.
The fish farmers have demanded emergency financial assistance from the government.
Sources at the fisheries offices in Mongla and Rampal upazilas said people in the two upazilas have been cultivating shrimps in their agricultural lands for more than three decades instead of paddy.
Out of 12,500 hectares of agricultural lands of Mongla upazila, 10,885 hectares are being utilised for cultivating shrimps. There are 5,550 fish enclosures in the upazila alone.
Rampal’s 14,881 hectares of lands are used for the shrimp cultivation. There are 4,865 fish enclosures there.
As the lands are not suitable for farming paddy, most of the people of these two upazilas are dependent on the shrimp culivation.
Some of the shrimp traders in Mongla upazila’s Joy Kha village said they released fish fries into the enclosures in February. These shrimps could have been sold in April. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the companies stopped purchasing the fish from them.
Rampal’s Perikhali village’s shrimp trader Humayun Ijaradar said, “I’ve invested Tk one million in ‘Bagda’ shrimp cultivation this year. If I cannot sell out fish, I’ll be finished.”
Mongla upazila senior fisheries officer AZM Touhidur Rahman said the coronavirus has created global economic recession. It’ll have an impact on the shrimp industry. We’re worried about the farmers.”
Asked about the matter, shrimp exporter Jalalabad Frozen Foods Limited’s director Maruf Bin Abdul Jabber said, “Those of us who export shrimps are in great danger. There should have been an export of shrimp worth Tk 150 million to Europe. The buyer has already cancelled the order. Orders worth more than Tk 500 million were cancelled too.”
Bangladesh Frozen Food Exporters Association’s president Kazi Belayet Hossain told Prothom Alo over phone that a total of 290 export orders worth of Tk 4.6 billion have already been cancelled.
Belayet said, “We have unsold shrimps worth of Tk 10 billion at the factories. We don’t know when the situation will get normal. A great danger is prevailing in this industry. There is no alternative to keep the factories open to support 6 million people in this sector.”
“The government should stand by the farmers and owners of the factories,” he added.