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House approves $445M for more shrimp ponds
Kaieteur News – Recognising the success of its brackish water shrimp ponds in the Corentyne Region, the Ministry of Agriculture will be extending the programme this year with a $445.2 million allocation.
Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha in response to questions raised by Alliance For Change (AFC) Parliamentarian, Khemraj Ramjattan said that any fish farmer or brackish water farmer who needs help will be getting assistance under this programme.
Mustapha explained that last year when the initiative was conceptualised, his ministry focussed on subsistence farming. He said that there were about 120 farmers who together produced some 10,000 kilograms (Kg) of shrimp monthly.
Mustapha said that his ministry through dialogue with the farmers promised to enhance output through the shrimp ponds. He said that Government moved to commence the infrastructural work on the brackish water shrimp ponds, and though the project was not fully completed, output was increased to 83,000 kg by the end of December last year.
The brackish water shrimp ponds developed by the Ministry of Agriculture
The project he detailed is about 80 percent completed. The agriculture minister said his team is hoping that upon completion of that project, production will be increased to 120,000 kg monthly. The Ministry is also looking to branch out such initiatives on the East and West Coasts of Guyana. The objective is to make the country a large scale producer of this species of shrimp, which according to the Minister, is very lucrative in other countries.
In December 2021, this newspaper reported that the Ministry of Agriculture was pursuing 74 ponds to hopefully double the production of shrimp, by 2025, with a $58 million investment. Kaieteur News was told that the project site is located along the Corentyne Coast from the Berbice River Bridge to Number 49 Village, in Region Six.
Furthermore, it was related that the scope of works included the desilting of drainage and irrigation canals, pond preparation (that is building dams higher), removal of vegetation in the pond and desilting where possible.
Tubes were also installed to facilitate drainage and irrigation. The works are being completed by the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), as was related by a credible source.
The Ministry said that the project is specifically aimed at boosting the production of brackish water shrimp from 250,000 kilograms to 500,000 kilograms in four years’ time. This is one of the measures the Government has pursued amidst complaints of decreased seafood catch, by local fishers. The Fisheries Department has teamed up with the NDIA to construct the 74 ponds for the rearing of brackish water shrimp.
According to Wikipedia, ‘brackish water’, also sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment having more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. Salt water is the ideal environment for the rearing of shrimp.
In August last year, the Ministry of Agriculture invited bids for contractors to construct a shrimp farm at Onverwagt, West Coast Berbice, Region Five and another project at Farm, Rose Hall, Berbice Region Six.
In 2022, $230 million was budgeted for the brackish-water shrimp production initiative. Additionally, Budget 2022 provided the sum of $200 million to introduce and develop marine cage fishing. In 2021, $58 million was spent on the fish ponds.
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