Freshwater shrimp farming sees success in Nilphamari

The English saying 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks' suggests that as people age they are less open to change, that they become set  in their ways. Nilphamari farmer Omar Faruk, 60, from Shokher Bazar village in sadar upazila is busy proving the saying wrong. In the latter part of his farming life, this year he's established an innovative shrimp farm in fresh water, a first for the district.

Faruk has traditional aquaculture experience. He has a number of ponds surrounding his house where he raises by habit commonly cultivated fish species like rui, katol, mrigel, kalbaus and carp. He's done that for many years and in the process he established good relations with local fisheries department officials.

That's how he came to hear about the new “Shrimp Cultivation Extension Project in Fresh Water” government project, a project which itself challenges an old age belief: that shrimps can only be grown in saline water. Faruk found the concept fascinating.

“Most farmers are confused,” says district fisheries officer Shah Imam Jafare Sadeque. “They believe shrimp can only be cultivated in salt water. Readily we agreed to give Faruk all sorts of technical and material assistance to establish his project.”

On the advice of fishery officials, Faruk emptied a two acre pond, levelled the bottom and refilled it, adding lime to remove acidity and afterwards bleach to purify the water. It would be his shrimp nursery.

“Our fisheries office supplied 12,000 shrimp fry, each about 1 centimetre in length in June 2015 at our cost,” says Sadeque. “The aim was to grow the stock in his nursery pond into larger juveniles, after which Faruk sold some and released a good portion into his other ponds.”

As shrimp like to live in the deepest portion of the pond, there was nothing to prevent Faruk continuing his fish species cultivation, since many fish varieties prefer the middle layer of the pond and thus do not hinder the growth of the shrimp.

Faruk also learnt that shrimp are nocturnal, so in the evening and late at night he provides their food, adding palm leaves to the pond floor to provide some shelter for as they rest during the daytime.

Within 10 months of releasing the juvenile shrimp into the pond, they were ready for sale. “The shrimp were so good that just seven or eight of them weighed 1 kilogram. I harvested a total of 300 kilograms, selling them in phases through to last week of June this year. I earned Tk 2.5 lakhs.”

Faruk earned additional profit from his fish stocks. The financial outcome of his fresh water experiment in shrimp farming was indeed welcome, as it enabled Faruk to fund his daughter's marriage last month.

His initial success has worked to stoke his enthusiasm further. This season he bought 20,000 more shrimp fry from a government nursery in nearby Parbotipur upazila to increase his own production and also to supply juvenile shrimp to other local farmers.

Indeed a number of previously unemployed shrimp have become interested in fresh water shrimp cultivation after witnessing Faruk's achievements. “I've leased a 2 acre pond to grow shrimp,” says one unemployed youth Hamidul Islam from adjacent Angar Para village.

Gone are the days when the beliefs that shrimp could only be cultivated in saline water, and that the industry belonged solely to the southwestern part of Bangladesh, remain unchallenged. “Shrimp cultivation is a great success in this northern region,” says the director of the government project Dr. Md. Rafiqul Islam. “Omar Faruk is a pioneer. Even old age can't defeat him!”