ADB pours US$93mil loan to advance Indonesia’s shrimp farming

A traditional fisherman nets shrimps and fish in shallow waters along Banda Aceh beach, Special Region of Aceh, on Oct.29. - Antara

JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network): The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a US$93 million loan to advance shrimp farming for smallholders in seven provinces in Indonesia.

Called The Infrastructure Improvement Project for Shrimp Aquaculture, the project is designed to assist the Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry in introducing sustainable-shrimp aquaculture to increase productivity, quality, profitability and environmental preservation in shrimp-farming areas for smallholders.

Meanwhile, the seven provinces included in the project are Bali, Banten, Central Java, East Java, Lampung, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and South Sulawesi.

Eric Quincieu, principal water-resources specialist of ADB for South-East Asia, explained Indonesia is one of the main players in the global market with a market share of 8.7 per cent, making the country the fifth largest shrimp producer in the world, as well as an exporter to the European Union, Japan and the United States.

“Through ADB's assistance, we hope that sustainable-aquaculture practices will help reduce pressure on ecosystems while increasing productivity,” said Quincieu in an ADB statement released on Thursday (Dec 15).

Furthermore, he elaborated that the loan project will improve smallholder farmers' access to quality shrimp feed and fry, production and post-harvest as well as traceability through investments in climate-adapted infrastructure, capacity building and value-chain strengthening.

This project, he said, will also facilitate the transfer of knowledge to the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry in producing shrimp fry with high-quality genetics in order to reduce dependence on imported fry stocks.

Around 5,200 smallholder farmers, of which more than a thousand are women, will benefit from the infrastructure and capacity improvements.

About 35,000 smallholder farmers, of which approximately 7,000 are women, will also benefit from increased access to quality feed and shrimp fry and capacity-building programs in sustainable and climate-adapted aquaculture.

The project will also contribute to recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic by providing job opportunities and promoting rural entrepreneurship.

The project is aligned with the government's National Medium-Term Development Plan 2020–2024 and ADB's Country Partnership Strategy 2020–2024 for Indonesia, as well as the Action Plan for Healthy Oceans and a Sustainable Blue Economy from ADB.