Shrimp farming
in Thailand is a multi-billion dollar industry,
a major export product and a foreign-exchange
earner. Today, Thailand supplies 20 percent
of the world trade in shrimp and prawn. Thailand
is also the world's leading exporter and the
largest producer of Black Tiger prawns. The
rapid growth of shrimp farming in Thailand has
led to an economic boom, especially in the coastal
provinces of the Eastern and Southern regions.However,
there is doubt about the long-term success of
the industry.
The Shrimp farming
industry can be characterised as a boom-and-bust
industry, where the money earned in the booms
have not necessarily 'trickled down' to traditional
coastal communities. The increased demand for
shrimp in world markets has encouraged many
developing countries to enter into the practice
of shrimp farming. United States and Japan are
the largest export markets for Thai shrimp,and
the demand is increasing annually.
Shrimp farming
in Thailand started in the early 1980s and expanded
in the mid 1980s. Originally, as much as 90%
of Thailand's shrimp was harvested from natural
resources mainly in the gulf of Thailand. By
the late 80's, shrimp culture - mainly black
tiger prawns - became popular in Thailand and
spread quickly along the coast. Today, shrimp
production in Thailand focusses more on cultured
harvesting of shrimp products, rather than natural
farming. The current trend is that nearly 70%
of shrimp in Thailand is cultured as opposed
to naturally farmed.
Traditional farming
practices along the coastal areas gradually
changed for peasant farmers, due to the high
demand for shrimp in overseas markets. Thai
rice farmers converted their coastal fields,
and often the mangrove forests that bordered
them, to shrimp ponds. As much as five tons
of shrimp a year could be produced from a pond
the size of a football field. Rice farmers who
had been making $500 a year suddenly saw profits
of $20,000 to $40,000. This has created a great
deal of enthusiasm for continued production
of cultured shrimp.
The area just
beyond the mangrove forest offers the ultimate
conditions for the production of pond shrimp
and they have been extensively used for this
purpose.
Black tiger shrimp
became the leading variety produced here. This
is mainly because farmers received handsome
profits for black tiger prawns, thanks to a
firm market abroad. This led to the rapid growth
of black tiger prawn farms. In fact, Thailand's
output has risen so rapidly, it is now the world's
top producer of black tiger prawns, sending
abroad 250,000 tons of the product worth $1.7
billion in 1994. This equates to 25% of the
world supply of pond-raised shrimp.
In the early
1980s, shrimp farms concentrated in the Upper
Gulf provinces, accounted for more than 40%
of the country's total shrimp culture area.
However, during the market boom, prawn culture
expanded very rapidly, and without proper controls,
it severely affected the environment. Environmental
degradation, particularly water pollution, played
havoc with the shrimp, killing a large number
of them. The situation in three provinces deteriorated
so much that it was very difficult to rehabilitate
the areas. Aggravating the situation further,
shrimp prices weakened alarmingly in 1989. The
drop in prices and the destruction of the mangroves
forced many shrimp farms in the three Upper
Provinces to ter
Head Office:
Siam
Canadian Foods Co., Ltd.
9th Floor, Suite 283/44, Home Place Office Building.
283 Thonglor 13, Sukhumvit 55
Kongton Nua, Wattana, Bangkok 10110,
THAILAND
Call us at +66-2-185-3311
Fax: +66-2-185-3317
E-mail: info@siamcanadian.com
