After 4 years from the white spot virus outbreak, conventional Ecuadorian shrimp farmers are learning to use pro-biotics instead of antibiotics widely used the 2 first years after the outbreak. Conventional shrimp industry still use antibiotic in commercial hatcheries.

Regulations from Importing countries and better farm results with probiotics rather than antibiotics are the reasons for this change.
This is also a good time for Organic-ecological efforts like the one from NATURLAND (Germany), that set standards for organic shrimps production.

The basics of organic shrimp production are: organic larvae, organic feed, stock density limit and certified packing plant in a eco-friendly operation.

But some key points should be addressed before more producers start to convert their operation to organic:
• More organic feed availability
• More certified hatcheries
• More certified packing plants
• Commercialization (internal and international)

Since I'm certified producer and my farm is small, I tried to convince some other producers to convert their farm and form a group to export, the farmers answers are:
+ There is only few certified hatcheries and they will sell the larvae to higher prices.
+ There is only few and expensive certified feed.
+ There is no market for this product, and the price difference (if there is one) will no pay-back.

Personally I did not get any monetary result for been organic, but the satisfaction of doing the right thing, either I blame the producers since due the lowest conventional shrimps prices EVER they are receiving, they can not afford to any new enterprise.

What to do?

1.-Since 100% of conventional shrimp feed has imported conventional wheat, somebody has to import organic wheat and soybean.

2.- Organic larvae shall have a higher price since if there is no antibiotic in the hatcheries the percentage of survivals will be lower, or the density has to decrease with the same operational cost, with this higher price more hatcheries will convert their labs.

3.- The remaining points, more packing plants and commercialization are bonded;
To understand better the problem, need to understand how it works the conventional internal shrimp market in Ecuador:
Conventional farmers sell the shrimps to the packers and the packer´s export.
Reasons for this:
• Farmers needs the money and can´t wait longer, they would required another operation capital to export.
• They have no enough volume and will need to gather.
• Packing plants in Ecuador do not like to co-pack for a producer.

This system were working in conventional internal market, but is creating problems between producers and packers for two reasons lately:

Conventional Farmers blame packers for the low prices.

Due almost zero tolerance for antibiotics, packers are in a very difficult position, they are doing the export and if some antibiotic is found overseas, the product will be destroy and will create great looses for the packer, not only monetary but also credibility. For this reason some packers are asking conventional producers to sign collateral for possible reimbursements if there any problem overseas.

Organic shrimps commercialization future:

There are two ways for the organic shrimp production to grow in Ecuador:

1.- Let the same group of packers with their capital to buy the organic production.
2.- Land the organic importers to Ecuador, to buy the organic shrimps, directly from the producers.

I'm convince that the organic commercialization has to be different in the organic shrimps than the conventional shrimps.
Packers shall not be the owners of the organic shrimps production as well as the conventional shrimp production.
The responsibility and benefit of the organic shrimp production has to lay down in itch organic producer.

The only physical presence of an overseas customer in Ecuador will create relief and confidence in the conventional shrimp producers for conversion.
In the conventional shrimp market, there are in Ecuador at least 3 majors foreign importers with offices in Ecuador

The tasks to perform by an organic shrimp importer or his agent in Ecuador will be:
• Pre-harvest inspection to producers, and trying to gather a basic group of suppliers that will match, overseas customer standards.
• Hired co-packing process in a certified packing plant.
• To pay 1/3 of the harvest at the packing plant, and 2/3 when container clear customs overseas. Without physical presence of importer in Ecuador will be hard to achieve that producers will bring the harvest with no full payment before container clear customs overseas.

The presence of a Organic shrimp importer in Ecuador, the country with the highest number of shrimps pond hectares in the world (180.000 hectares), is necessary to promote the farms conversion and to standardize commercialization process in this new item, besides it´s logical in a product that shall be cultivated extensively due stock density limits.

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by: Enrique F. Bolona
ebolona@southtropical.com
December 2003