Joint venture between Malaysia’s TEXCHEM and Myanmar Sustainable Aquaculture Program (MYSAP), crab hatchery to be piloted in Labutta district, Ayeyarwaddy Region in April in order to make crab production sustainable

Myanmar Sustainable Aquaculture Program (MYSAP) and Malaysia’s TEXCHEM, a crab breeding firm, will run a pilot program for crab breeding in Labutta District, Ayeyarwaddy Region in April this year.

People currently sell wild caught crabs, which can quickly deplete the number of crabs. Therefore, the two parties will start testing their crab breeding methods in order to make crab production sustainable.

“The company has experience in researching crab production, and that is why we partnered with them. They will help us breed crabs and will provide technological know-how to local aquaculture farmers so that they can breed crabs,” said U Soe Tun, consultant of MYSAP.

MYSAP is an aquaculture development project (2017-2021) implemented by Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation and German’s GIZ.

Yangon Region, Mandalay Region, Sagaing Region, Shan State, and Rakhine State were chosen to implement MYSAP project for which EU and GIZ will provide a total of €200 million for 5 year projects.

"We have prepared everything, and breeding will start in April. Then crab breeds will be delivered to farmer. We don’t know how much it will cost, so we cannot say at which price we will sell. It should be reasonable price for farmers. We expect to produce around 100,000 crab breeds for the first harvest,” said Mr. Soh Chee Weng, Assistant General Manager of TEXCHEM.

Ten crab breeding runs can be completed each year. It only takes two months to produce crabs weighing 100 g (3.5 oz)

There are around 400 acres of crab breeding ponds in Labutta District, of which 280 acres are operated by a foreign company and two local companies. The remaining hatcheries are owned by local farmers.

(Myanmar Business Today: https://www.mmbiztoday.com/articles/crab-hatchery-be-piloted-labutta-district )

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