Muktsar: Shrimp crop ready early due to US tariff, farmers affected

Punjab: The tariff hike announced by the US (from 16.5 per cent to nearly 60 per cent) has worried shrimp farmers in the region. The harvesting season has just begun and will continue till the end of November, but prices have already fallen by 20-25 per cent. Farmers claim that this has caused them a loss of about Rs 1.5 lakh per acre. Some shrimp farmers and fisheries department officials said that the initial prices were good this season. Manjinder Singh, a shrimp farmer from Ennakheda village, said, “We were getting Rs 340 per kg for shrimp, but for the last few days, prices have fallen to Rs 280 per kg. Seeing the situation worsening, some of us have even started harvesting early. Those who had planned to harvest fresh shrimp in September or October are harvesting now. This is an additional loss, as the shrimp will not gain much weight due to early harvesting. On an average, we get a yield of 2.5-3 tonnes per acre per year.” Randhir Singh, another farmer from Thehari village, said shrimp were usually sent to coastal areas, especially Andhra Pradesh, from where they were mainly exported to the US. “The harvesting season has just begun but the US tariff hike has made farmers worried. We are in touch with them,” said Sheenam Jindal, assistant director of the fisheries department.