LAHORE: Caretaker Chief Minister Punjab Mohsin Naqvi has given in-principle approval to a pilot program to introduce shrimp aquaculture in the province.
He has called for a comprehensive plan for the promotion of shrimp farming in Punjab.
In the first phase, shrimp aquaculture will be introduced on 100,000 acres of uncultivable land in a selected district while ten shrimp farms of 10,000 acres each will be established on barren lands in the province.
Local investors will be provided free land for shrimp farming for a specified period and after the success of the pilot phase, the shrimp farming project will be expanded.
Meanwhile, a proposal is also being assessed to provide loans on easy instalments to small farmers for shrimp farming up to one kanal area.
It was told that self-reliance can be achieved in shrimp farming by building shrimp hatcheries, feed mills, and processing plants. Even a small country like Ecuador is earning more than 4.5 billion US dollars annually by exporting shrimp as it is an environment-friendly business.
As many as 1.5 million acres of uncultivable land are available for shrimp farming across Punjab, while the experiment of shrimp farming on 1250 acres of land has already been successful in the province under a federal government project. It is expected that this beneficial project would help in earning foreign exchange.