REVIVAL OF THE BLACK TIGER

Since the early days of shrimp farming in India, monodon has been the primary species. This Indian endemic species seemed very promising until the end of the 2000s when the WSSV (White Spot Syndrome Virus) outbreak ruined monodon cultivation. So, the farmers shifted to cultivating vannamei, which at the time was genetically better.

After intensively introducing in 2009 in India, vannamei has become a game-changer for the country’s seafood industry and has significantly boosted national productivity. However, vannamei didn’t always seem to run in a good way. In recent years, this introduced species has brought a new set of challenges, including disease outbreaks, low selling prices, high feed costs, and poor survival rates.

This condition is confirmed by the founder and CEO of Mayank Aquaculture, Dr. Manoj M. Sharma. He states that many farmers in several regions have started to try cultivating black tiger again. “Seventy percent [farmers] in Gujarat may shift to monodon, twenty percent in West Bengal may shift to monodon, and Andhra Pradesh [may shift] maximum at ten percent.” Dr. Manoj reveals. In addition, some regions cannot shift to monodon due to their local condition, such as north Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan, having low salinity, which is unsuitable for monodon.

However, despite being the largest producer of black tiger shrimp in the past, farmers’ return to this species faces some challenges, including the market. According to Manoj, after a decade of not so much cultivation of monodon, the market has shifted to other countries such as Bangladesh and Vietnam. And it will take time to rebuild India’s image as a black tiger producer.

On the other hand, some stakeholders in India’s shrimp industry have yet to be ready to embrace the return of monodon, as the vannamei ecosystem has already become well-established. Moreover, the intensive farming practices for vannamei have grown the economy significantly due to the volume of vannamei, which positively impacts seed and feed requirements. Switching to monodon will simply reduce these demands and wastes their investments.

SPF seed brings new hope

The team leader of shrimp feed company Godrej Agrovet Limited, Dhaval Bhamaniya, says that the collapse of monodon at that time was due to the low quality of seed caused by still using wild-caught broodstock. The disaster has sharply declined the monodon production from 1,3 million tons in 2011 to only 27,616 tons in 2021 and 52,000 in 2022. At the same time, van- namei production dominated at around 900,000 tons.

“If you look back ten years from today, India was predominantly known for their endemic monodon farming, which the majority depends on wild brooders. However, this industry collapsed in the last decade due to poor survival rate, disease outbreak, growth, and poor knowledge of genetics in the domestic shrimp industry,” he recalls.

However, many farmers are trying to return to the black tiger, not only because of the complex situation in vannamei but also because the ecosystem has begun to form again. The most critical and decisive factor is the development of the SPF monodon.

The good news is that the government has already given a signal to revive the industry through research and development to produce quality broodstock, even though the result wasn’t as fast as expected. As for now, the government already gives permission to import SPF broodstock from selected countries for long-term planning.

Meanwhile, Dhaval says that “in December 2021, black tiger prawn 2.0 made a comeback in partnership with Aquaculture De La Mahajamba in Madagascar, followed by the introduction of SPF Line by Moana Technologies from the USA in January 2022. Furthermore, in August 2022, the first BMC of Moana Technologies LLC opened in Gujarat, in collaboration with Vaishnavi Aquatech.”

He adds that farmers who grow only one crop per year are happy with SPF monodon due to its fast growth, less EHP issue, and higher return on investment compared to vannamei in larger quantities. In addition, the farmers’ association in Andhra Pradesh is organizing a shrimp food festival to boost the local market.

Monodon and vannamei market difference

Even though there is a massive movement from vannamei to monodon, according to Manoj, monodon will only partially replace vannamei because both have different markets. Vannamei is like broiler chicken which targets the mass market at an affordable price. In comparison, monodon is like country chicken which has a niche market with a relatively higher price.

Manoj states that the global market demand right now for monodon is at 250,000 tons, with supply dominated by India, Bangladesh, and Vietnam. However, he estimates that the market could skyrocket to 1,5 million tons in the next two to three years.

Indian monodon has three primary markets: the USA, the EU, and Japan. The US and Japan request larger sizes and headless products, while the European market demands HOSO (Head-On, Shell-On) products.

However, Dhaval says that the monodon market still needs to be well-established. Hence, producers in India need to think about various alternatives such as other markets such as Asia, the middle east, and also Russia. He also suggests that the processors be able to increase the added value through the ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat shrimp products.

He concludes, “In the long term, farmers, feed industry professionals, processors, and cold chain agents must work together. So, farmers can plan accordingly to stock their black tiger shrimp based on export potential and domestic market networking.”