8/2002: A brighter future for Indonesian shrimp farmers through cooperative Indonesian-Australian research

MEDIA RELEASE

A brighter future for Indonesian shrimp farmers through cooperative Indonesian-Australian research

The long-term prospects for shrimp aquaculture in Indonesia looks more secure following efforts by local and Australian scientists.  Under a joint research project funded by the Australian Government, the project team have successfully trialled a solution to the viral diseases that have threatened the industry.

The project, commissioned by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, is introducing disease controls and decision support tools to Indonesian shrimp farmers.  A series of diseases came close to wiping out shrimp farming as a viable option for smallholders in Indonesia.

Shrimp is a valuable commodity that offers good returns on investments for smallholder farmers.  The industry was growing in Indonesia until the mid-1990s, when a series of viral diseases swept through much of south-east Asia’s shrimp industry, including Indonesia. 

Shrimp typically struggled to survive, dying around three weeks after hatching.  This became such a regular occurrence that farmers, who needed to invest money upfront, began turning to other forms of farming, rather than see their investment wasted by a poor or no return.  Losses amounted to almost US $300 million a year in the late 1990s.

ACIAR-funded research, conducted mainly in Thailand during the late 1990s, identified the causes of the diseases as viruses.  The result of this research was the development of a kit to identify the presence of the viruses at very low levels.  In addition a variety of knowledge and techniques to manage shrimp in aquaculture was also developed.

The current project in Indonesia is aimed at spreading the knowledge gained from previous work to the smallholder shrimp farmers scattered throughout the country.

The extension work, focussed around Jepara and the Brackishwater Aquaculture Development Centre, with involvement from the Central Research Institute for Fisheries in Jakarta and a number of Australian scientific partners, is proving very successful.

Trials combining disease control techniques, decision support tools and local knowledge have produced healthy prawns in controlled conditions.  These are the first healthy prawns many of the farmers involved in the project have seen in three years, and are producing a great deal of excitement with smallholders.  The project is now focussing on reproducing these results amongst the local farmers.

Groups of shrimp farmers, together with Indonesian scientists and extension workers, have been brought together to start passing on the results.  They will aim to use the same disease control techniques and tools at the local farm level and then document this for further spread throughout the country.