Shaphari Scheme

In News

Recently, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has kicked off the Shaphari scheme to certify Shrimp hatcheries and farms that adopt good aquaculture practices.

About Shaphari Scheme

• ‘Shaphari’ is a Sanskrit word that means superior quality of fishery products suitable for human consumption.
• It is a certification scheme developed by the Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA).
• It will bolster confidence in India’s frozen shrimp produce, the country’s biggest seafood export item.
• It will have two components
  • Certifying hatcheries for the quality of their seeds.
  • Approving shrimp farms that adopt the requisite good practices.
• It is based on the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) technical guidelines on aquaculture certification.
• The certification has been proposed as a market-based tool for hatcheries to adopt good aquaculture practices and help produce quality antibiotic-free shrimp products to assure global consumers.
• It will help farmers easily identify good quality seed producers and those who successfully clear multiple audits of their operations shall be granted a certificate for a period of two years.
• The entire certification process will be online to minimise human errors and ensure higher credibility and transparency.

Shrimp Production in India

• India has an extensive coastline of 8,118 km across nine States and four Union Territories.
• The country’s shrimp aquaculture industry is one of its growing, protein-producing sectors which earns India important foreign exchange.
  • Frozen shrimp is India’s largest exported seafood item. It constituted 50.58% in quantity and 73.2% in terms of total earnings from the sector during 2019-20.
• Rising demand for animal protein which is safe for human consumption, is on the rise due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has not only caused a huge transition in the global economy but also affected the shopping behavior of many people around the world.
• India’s shrimp-farming area currently encompasses more than 176,000 hectares (ha) for Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) production, black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) culture and freshwater giant prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) production.
• Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu are India’s major shrimp producing States.
• Shrimp Exports
  • India’s shrimp exports have had continuous growth over the past decade with year-on-year increases in volume.
  • In 2019, shrimp exports generated revenues of USD 5 billion, with the US and China being the biggest buyers.

                                                                                                    (Ministry of Commerce)

• Concerns
  • A combination of factors had hurt export volumes in recent months, including container shortages and incidents of seafood consignments being rejected because of food safety concerns.
  • Consignments sourced from Indian shrimp farms have been rejected due to the presence of antibiotic residue and this is a matter of concern for exporters.
  • Lack of availability of labor and logistics for proper functioning of the industry remains a key challenge.
• Suggestions
  • Certified aquaculture products will help exporters to export their consignments to markets under stringent food safety regulations without the fear of getting rejected.
    • The National Residue Control Programme for food safety issues in farm produce and pre-harvest testing system in place.
  • Government support is needed in terms of finance and security to help the shrimp farming community.
  • Better pond and feed management practices to improve responsible yields and for successful and profitable production.
  • Regarding markets, increasing awareness of shrimp in the domestic side would help support the industry and should include efforts towards more sustainable production models.
    • A strong domestic demand would help sustain the industry in dealing with the potential risks and fluctuations of international markets.
  • Internationally, more innovative approaches to reach global consumers would help the industry to bounce back.

Source: TH