D. Srinivas and Ch. Venkatrayalu
The commercial shrimp culture was introduced in late 1990s and reaching a peak in 1994 and thereafter it was suddenly declined in the Andhra Pradesh. The series of white spot disease outbreaks, lack of quality seed and feed, problems in quality brood stock, increased cost of production on account of feed, labour and the mandatory certificates requirements are suggested to be some of the important factors leading to the production decline. While majority of the output comes from Andhra Pradesh, particularly the East Godavari West Godavari, Krishna and Nellore districts. The present work was carried out on data collected from 228 shrimp farms along with farmers in different mandals of West Godavari district. The present trends indicate that the sector is set to revival, but the future prospectus of shrimp farming will also depend on the sustenance of white leg shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei that was introduced recently in India. Although it provided a hope and opportunity for sustainable shrimp farming, some diseases are already reported. The main problems and constraints expressed by the farmers are discussed according to the severity in the farming practices in shrimp culture. Availability of healthy and disease free seed is a major problem for them. The possible suggestions are identified by the shrimp farmers are also discussed.
