THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE (SHRI HUKUMDEO NARAYAN YADAV)
(a), (b), (c) & (d): According to the Marine Products Export Development Authority(MPEDA), no disease spread was reported in the prawn hatcheries of Kerala after June 2001. However, they are aware of the outbreak of disease in prawn/shrimp farms of the State during January 2002. The disease reportedly appeared in the traditional shrimp farms as isolated incidences during late December 2001. However, wide spread outbreak occurred in 2nd half of January 2002, due to white spot virus infection which has been causing similar outbreaks in shrimp farms of various maritime states, since 1995. According to MPEDA, one of the main reasons for the outbreak is the failure of the farmers to adopt the basic management measures needed to avoid the infection and spread of the disease. Other responsible factors include water quality, soil condition, plankton blooms, weather conditions etc.
The details of the area affected by the disease are given below. However, no estimate of the number of farmers affected is available.
District Area affected by disease (Ha.)
Kollam 14.500
Alappuzha 192.600
Ernakulam 6543.790
Thrissur 176.500
Kozhikkode 22.850
Kannur 547.760
Kasargod 2.000
Total 7500.000
The steps taken to control the disease by MPEDA include visit by their technical staff to the affected areas to extend necessary guidance to the farmers, organising several training programmes for them during the current culture season on the management measures to be adopted for prevention and control of diseases etc. MPEDA also extends subsidy assistance to the shrimp hatcheries to establish i) PCR lab @ Rs.5 lakh per hatchery to help farmers to stock disease-free seeds after testing; ii) Effluent Treatment System(ETS) in shrimp farms @ Rs.1.5 lakh for a unit of 5 ha. water spread area and maximum amount of Rs.6 lakh per beneficiary.
(e): The State-wise details of prawn exports during the last 3 years are given below:
(Quantity in Tonnes; Value of export in Million US Dollars)
STATE 2000-01 1999-2000 1998-99
Gujarat Q: 2881 2807 4951 $: 12.27 11.27 19.34
Maharashtra Q: 10728 11074 13650 $: 62.56 58.76 67.54
Karnataka Q: 213 14 5 $: 1.07 0.4 0.16
Goa Q: 36 90 175 $: 0.25 0.71 0.79
Kerala Q: 28299 35710 25550 $: 130.9 163.98 114.99
Tamil Nadu Q: 39383 29176 29219 $: 454.63 300.28 291.19
Andhra Q: 18708 19679 19196
Pradesh $: 206.07 202.38 206.41
Orissa Q: $:
West Bengal Q: 11626 11725 9738 $: 117 .25 109.35 99.8
Total Q: 111874 110275 102484 $: 985.00 847.13 800.22
