RI REVITALIZING SHRIMP CULTIVATION

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, March 10 (Antara) - When Indonesia was hit by a financial crisis in 1998 and the rupiah value nosedived from about Rp2400 to Rp16,000 per US dollar, shrimp farmers in the country found themselves to be in the golden era.          While others have to make careful calculation for their spending, traditional shrimp farmers reaped big amount of money as they enjoyed the high value of the greenback from shrimp exports.          Unluckily, the golden era did not last long for traditional shrimp farmers as in following years a shrimp virus type spread in many parts of the country.          Massive death of shrimps at ponds often caused farmers to suffer a huge loss. As a consequence, many farmers stopped cultivating shrimps, shifting to other kinds of fish or leaving their ponds idle.          Now the government is doing its best to revive the spirit of shrimp farmers by launching a shrimp pond revitalization program.         The government is providing a budget of Rp240 billion for the revitalization of idle shrimp ponds. It also set a target to produce 608,000 tons shrimps this year.          The target for this year was set after it has revitalized 1,000 hectares of idle shrimp ponds last year in the northern cost of West Java and Banten. Provisional figure of shrimp production in 2012 was recorded at 457,600 tons.            "We are revitalizing shrimp aquaculture so that we set an increased production target by 30 percent from last year, namely from 457,600 tons to 608,000 tons," Slamet Subjakto, director general for aquaculture fisheries of the Ministry of Maritime and Fisheries (KKP), told the media recently.          To achieve its goal of increasing shrimp production, the government is also planning to  revitalize 20,000 hectares of shrimp ponds in Central Java, East Java, South Sulawesi and Lampung.         According to Minister for Maritime and Fisheries Affairs (KKP) Sharif Cicip Sutardjo, the revitalization program has positive impact and could encourage various sides to make investment in shrimp pond cultivation, thus enhancing and optimizing the potentials of shrimp ponds in Java's northern coastal areas.         "After all, Indonesia could increase its shrimp production through intensive and extensive programs to capitalize on market opportunities in the world. This is because the shrimp cultivation condition in China, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia is now facing early mortality syndrome (EMS) illness. This causes massive death of shrimps," he said.          Therefore, the KKP has set a target of expanding shrimp ponds in the northern coast of West Java and Banten to 20,000 hectares. Its production target for the two areas was set at 200,000 tons.          In order to increase its shrimp production, the KKP is also optimizing the development of shrimp ponds in the northern coast of Java by designing a pioneer project called 'demonstration farm (defarm) project on a 1,000 hectare area.          The minister said the demfarm pioneer project which was done on a limited acreage was aimed to serve as a stimulator. The program showed that the shrimp pond business in the country, if cultivated based on the appropriate technology and the rules still could be considered as very promising.          "This is in line with our efforts to create four pillars of national development, namely the pro-poor,  pro-job and pro-growth pillars," he said.          The shrimp revitalization program in the northern coast of Java alone is expected to absorb 60 thousand workers.  "The absorption of workers will further increase if each hectare of ponds absorbs more than three workers," Minister Sharif Cicip Sutardjo said in a written statement made available to Antara  on Sunday.         He said that as a whole the program will provide jobs for about 400 thousand workers, or equal to the job opportunities created in each one percent of economic growth.         Therefore, the government also hoped that banks would help provide funds for the revitalization programs in various regions such as in the northern coast of Java.          "The banking support will significantly help the revitalization program launched by the maritime and fisheries ministry," the minister said.          He explained that certain executing banks actually had been assigned to channel credits through the government's smallholders credit scheme (KUR) with a ceiling of between Rp20 million to Rp400 million per shrimp farmer group. These funds could be used to rehabilitate ponds.          The minister pointed out that a number of shrimp farmers in a number of regions have shown their success in the revitalization program. They were able to produce some 15 to 18 tons of shrimps per hectare per harvest season. "So, in one year, they are expected to produce 39 tons of shrimp per hectare," Sharif Cicip Sutardjo said.          It has been often reported that gloomy pictures have portrayed shrimp cultivation in the country sometime in the past. The unfavorable conditions of shrimp cultivation were considered to have been caused by the absence of a good and sustainable aquaculture system in the management of shrimp cultivation.          According to Slamet Subjakto, the gloomy pictures have also discouraged shrimp farmers to run their pond cultivation business.  This declining interest of farmers, particularly in the northern coast of Java is marked by the increasing number of idle ponds, or the shifting of the farmers to raise fish.         Slamet said that "this phenomenon was a challenge facing us all that should encourage us to revive the people's interest in cultivating their ponds."  "We have to show proof the shrimp cultivation has bright prospect now," the director general added.          He cited as an example the success of a pioneer project in the implementation of an aquaculture dissemination technology in Selatif hamlet, Lontar village, Kemiri subdistrict, Tangerang, Banten.          He said that first harvest of the project in January 2013 in Kemiri subdistrict showed a better result. The shrimp production exceeded the target of 6 tons per hectare, reaching 6.7 tons.          "The cultivation of shrimp ponds based on correct technology and sustainable aquaculture system will not rule out the possibility of the country to regain its past golden shrimp era," he said. ***3*** (T.A014/  ) (T.A014/A/A. Abdussalam/A/O. Tamindael) 10-03-2013 20:24: