Economic Losses due to Disease Incidences in Shrimp Farms of India

Abstract

Huge economic losses occur due to incidence of viral and other diseases in shrimp farms of India. To make a quantified assessment of these losses, a field survey of 1142 shrimp farms following a statistical random sampling from nine coastal states during the period 2006-08 was conducted. The gross national losses in the country due to shrimp diseases was estimated as 48717 metric t of shrimp valued at Rs. 1022.1 crores, and employment of 2.15 million man days. Epidemic seriousness among the diseases was for White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV), Loose Shell Syndrome (LSS) and combination of WSSV and LSS, white gut and slow growth syndrome in that order at national level. Additional price loss was also recorded on account of poor quality of final output like deformed organs, loose shell and muddy smell. In some cases, farmers resorted to premature harvest and hence the production biomass also reduced coupled with price drop according to the count per kg of shrimps.