The pilot plan for mass production of disease-resistant shrimp is underway in Bushehr Province and “is in the final stage of implementation,” said Vice-President for Science and Technology Sourena Sattari.
The project has been designed by the agriculture jihad ministry and supported by his office, Sattari said.”At present, Iran is among the five countries which have advanced technology in production of disease-free shrimps,” he pointed out. The $ 2.4 million plan aims at prevention and control of disease in farmed shrimp. Half the funding has been provided by the vice-presidency and the remaining by the Bushehr Fisheries Science Research Institute.
The plan implementation will lead to self-sufficiency in shrimp production, thereby cutting imports. Also, it will create better employment prospects for the youth in this sector, he said, quoted by the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA).
The national research center for disease-resistant shrimp production has six 1500-square meters of research pools and two laboratories.
Epidemics
Recently, four epidemic diseases wiped out shrimp farms in Khuzestan, Bushehr and Sistan and Baluchestan Provinces, imposing heavy losses on the farmers. Outbreak of diseases in the southern farm complexes are the main reasons for non-utilization of around 8000 available ponds in the country for shrimp culture; therefore the pilot plan was designed to improve productivity as well as livelihoods of the shrimp farmers.
“To produce the healthy and disease-free shrimp, a Specific Pathogen Free (SPF), genetically cultured breed of shrimp was introduced, through specific on-farm methods,” he added.
