Prawn Farmers Call On Govt For Urgent Help

[george]

Prawn farmers call on govt for urgent help

BANGKOK: -- Freshwater prawn farmers today urged the Ministry of Commerce to provide urgent assistance, warning that a recent fall in prices was forcing farmers to face losses of up to Bt40 per kilogram.

Speaking after leading a delegation of 100 prawn farmers to the Ministry of Commerce, Mr. Thirawat Leephaisomboon, President of the Association of Freshwater Prawn Farmers, warned of a crisis unless the government came up with clear assistance measures.

The price of a kilogramme of white prawns has recently fallen from Bt135-145 to only Bt95-100, while black tiger prawns have fallen from Bt150-160 to a mere Bt100-110.

With production costs at around Bt121 per kilogram, farmers are facing heavy losses.

Mr. Thirawat blamed the situation on anti-dumping measures imposed by the US, which have forced Thai prawn farmers to put down collateral of 60 percent of the value of exports for the entire year.

Calling on the government to come up with clear measures to boost domestic prawn sales, he accused the government of failing to come up with policies to help prawn farmers affected both by the December tsunami and by US anti-dumping regulations.

Tomorrow prawn farmers from across the country are to descend on the Government House here to issue a petition to Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and have warned that they could dump prawns outside the Government House in protest.

--TNA 2005-06-06

[Kringle]

Just like everything else here, someone sees you making money doing something and everyone else joins the trip or they build their biz bigger than the demand. Kind of crazy I think.

Edited June 6, 2005 by Kringle

[Heng]

We have prawn farmers working some of our undeveloped land in Suphanburi. If their work ethic is any indicator of the average worker in the entire industry... the gov't probably won't be of much help.

How about not letting those oxygenators stop (and having 1/3 of the stock die off) because you were out drinking or passed out first... I'm no shrimp farmer, but I would think that you're losing at least some of that "40 Baht a kilo" right there. This aerator stop is an issue every single time I've visited.

[Khutan]

Good point, maybe if there was a bit more education in management of prawns, rather than the corrent methods, things would be alot better. Just the O2 levels and the very basic water chemistry need to be managed.

Also, why aren't they getting new markets opened ? Prawns are a valuable product around the world.

[george]

Update:

Shrimp breeders threaten Government House protest if crisis persists

BANGKOK: -- Shrimp breeders have given the government one month to fix a chronic slump in prices or face a mass protest of industry workers in front of Government House.

A threat to stage an immediate demonstration by more than a thousand shrimp breeders was withdrawn yesterday after talks between industry representatives and Commerce Minister Thanong Bidaya.

Dr. Thanong reportedly promised to address the concerns of the breeders immediately. The leaders of the three shrimp breeders' associations involved also went to Government House to petition Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra for help.

Surapon Prathuangtham, who chairs one of the shrimp breeders' groups, said they wanted urgent action, including a government-backed guaranteed pricing scheme and the ability to sell directly to consumers.

If the government failed to make things better within one month, he vowed 1,000 protestors would show up to remind the government of its pledge to help.

--TNA 2005-06-07

[Scott]

I am not very well informed about prawn farming, but it seems that there are significant problems in the entire economy.

Perhaps the country is starting to run on empty.

[aqua]

Hi Heng

I can't speak for the prawn farmers in Suphanburi but I can certainly speak for the prawn farmers in the Chachoengsao region, as I know many farmers in the area, including some farms run by expats. All the farmers that I know work extremely hard, around the clock and dedicated to their farming operations

To give you an idea, a typical day for a 3 Rai Black Tiger Prawn pond is as follows:

0100 - Turn on the diesel motors that drive the mechanical aerators

0600 - Turn off the diesel motors that drive the mechanical aerators

0630 - Conduct first water tests for the day (pH, total alkalinity, nitrites, ammonia, chlorine, salinity)

0700 - First feeding for the day

0730 - Check the feeding nets

1200 - Second feeding for the day

1230 - Check the feeding nets

1400 - Turn on the diesel motors that drive the mechanical aerators

1600 - Turn off the diesel motors that drive the mechanical aerators

1630 - Conduct second water tests for the day (pH, total alkalinity, nitrites, ammonia, chlorine, salinity)

1700 - Third feeding for the day

1730 - Check the feeding nets

2200 - Fourth feeding for the day

2230 - Check the feeding nets

At every step, details are also entered into a pond log book, also diesel motors need to be refilled and prawn feed prepared

So you can see that prawn farming is very labour intensive and farmers need to work around the clock to ensure that water conditions are right at all times to ensure the health of the prawns. The example above is for 1 pond or dam, many farms have over 10 ponds

[Heng]

I certainly wasn't saying all farmers are like this or like that.... just the ones that are on our property. I also don't believe in the "we can't sell it at X price anymore and still make a living.... what are YOU going to do about that for ME?"

[aqua]

what are YOU going to do about that for ME?

Well the price of diesel just dropped by 3 baht, so thats a start Hopefully the price of prawns will skyrocket too I will keep my fingers crossed for you!

[Lite Beer]

As this topic is over six years old.

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