Socio-Economic Progress of Shrimp Farming in Punjab

COVID-19 pandemic devastated the world with unprecedented economic crisis, leaving everyone confused and apprehended, including the livestock sector. As a resilience measure, shrimp farmers of Punjab were advised some remedial adaptations. Expecting good results, socio-economic evaluation of shrimp farmers from 3 south west districts (Fazilka, Sri Muktsar Sahib and Mansa) of the state was carried out. With enthusiastic participation of young (56.7% ≤ 35 years of age) and educated (50% graduates) farmers, overall 86.6% of the farmers followed the advisories. The pandemic delayed stocking of ponds, however 66.7% of farmers harvested 6.5 to 8.75 t shrimp ha crop. Non-availability of water testing facility within approachable distance emerged as the major constraint (80%), while only 6.66% farmers each reported marketing and seed related problems. With culture period of 101–120 (40%) and >120 (36.7%) days, 66.7% farmers obtained feed conversion ratio <1.2. Further, 43.3 and 36.7% farmers harvested shrimp with an average body weight of 31-35g and 26-30g, respectively and 100% farmers marketed shrimp at the farm site @ Rs. 301–400 (53.3%) and >Rs. 400/-(40%) kg, corresponding to net profit of >12.5 lakh (60%) and 7.6–12.5 lakh (26.7%) ha⁻¹. The adopted resilience plan helped the farmers to realize optimal economic returns from shrimp farmingin Punjab.