This is one of many Shrimp farmers in Bangladesh hurt by recent cyclones
Nearly 400,000 shrimp farmers face an uncertain future two months after Cyclone Sidr struck Bangladesh’s southwestern coastal belt. Some 6,000 shrimp farms and hatcheries in the four southern districts of Satkhira, Khulna, Bagerhat and Patuakhali were washed away. Bangladesh’s shrimp exports are the country’s second largest foreign exchange earner (after ready-made garments), earning US$515 million from exports during the last fiscal year (July 2006-June 2007). The Bangladeshi government was hoping to earn over $1.5 billion from shrimp exports annually by 2010. In Morrelganj, Sharankhola and Mongla sub-districts of Bagerhat District, over 90 percent of some 5,000 shrimp enclosures were destroyed by the cyclone. Farms in the affected region are well known for their Black Tiger shrimp that grow in salt water and are cultivated on 130,000 hectares of land, while freshwater shrimp are cultivated on another 40,000 hectares of land. “We have suffered an estimated loss of about $36 million,” said Kazi Belayet Hossain, president of the Frozen Food Exporters Association (BFFEA) of Bangladesh, in the capital, Dhaka. Maqsudur Rahman, vice-president of BFFEA, said almost all the shrimp enclosures, hatcheries and processing plants in Bagerhat, Satkhira and Khulna districts, where 70 per cent of shrimp were produced, were severely damaged by the cyclone which struck the country on 15 November