The Hindu Business Line : Organic aquaculture harvest to begin on Nov 1

Kochi, Oct 24 The world’s first organic aquaculture harvest of the large fresh water prawn, scampi, is slated to be held besides the backwaters of Kerala on November 1. This unique project is being implemented with the assistance of the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) in collaboration with the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), Switzerland.

Extensive use of chemicals and pesticides in conventional food production technology has been compelling health conscious people of developed countries to explore and support organic farming methods in agriculture and aquaculture. The Indian project for organic black tiger and scampi was initiated to pursue the huge market potential of selling aquaculture products in the European markets.

The Indian Organic Aquaculture Project was first initiated in January 2007 in the maritime States of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala with technical consultancy from M/s Blueyou. Certification is mandatory for selling organic products across the world and Naturland of Germany has been chosen as the certifying agency and Indocert in Kerala is the inspection body for the project.

ORGANIC SEEDS

The different components of the project such as organic hatchery, feed mill, farm and processor exports have to abide by guidelines and specifications established by global standards. Rosen Fisheries Hatchery was chosen for the production of organic seeds and it has produced 11.50 lakh organic scampi seeds so far. Of this, 3.4 lakh seeds were supplied to four farmers in Kerala and the remaining to the farmers in Andhra Pradesh. Two other hatcheries, Queens hatchery and St John Bosco hatchery had been later selected for organic seed production of which Queens hatchery has commenced production of organic scampi seeds.

Four scampi farms besides the backwaters of Kerala with a water spread of 20 hectares have been stocked with organic scampi seeds during March/April this year. Farming operations have been successful and the world’s first organic scampi harvest would be undertaken in the Alappuzha district in Kerala. The project is now poised for extension to other suitable places in different maritime States of the country.