Brunei's Prawn Breeders Hurting Due to Imports
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, 25
October 2008,
Saturday - With the future of the prawn industry at stake, local
operators have voiced out their concerns over some issues faced by their
businesses in a meeting with officials from the Fisheries Department
held yesterday at the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources.
Hj Nasrul Hakim Hj Othman
of S Kota Sdn Bhd presented his case in the presence of the director of
Fisheries, Hjh Hasnah Ibrahim, officers from the department and prawn
farm operators who were faced with the same predicament.
He said that his Rostris
prawn could not compete with the Vannamei prawn, which was being sold in
the local market at a much cheaper price. Thus, he feared that he would
have to close down the business if something was not done about it.
When they first started,
the department had instructed the prawn farmers to culture Rostris prawn
since international data had shown that Rostris prawn was less
susceptible to disease compared to the Vannamei prawn. However, with the
presence of Vannamei prawns in the market, Hj Nasrul questioned whether
such prawns were allowed to be imported into the country.
He also stated that upon
exporting their prawns to nations such as Malaysia, Taiwan and the USA,
the operators were required to produce a health certificate for the
prawns.
He asked why import of
prawns into Brunei was not subjected to the same requirements.
Hjh Hasnah answered that at
present, the import of any prawns was legal since Brunei followed the
characteristics of a free trade nation. She went on to say that the
department has no right to confiscate or curb the import of such prawns
as there was no law in place that would give them the right to do so. As
for the necessity of the operators to produce health certificates when
exporting, she said that these were the requirements of the importing
country and not for Brunei.
The director also told the
operators that before the Fisheries Department could take any action,
they would have to confer with the Attorney General's Chambers (AGC) to
ensure that it would be in accordance with the law.
"If the Vannamei is still
coming in (to Brunei), I am going to fail. I'm very sad to (have learnt)
that Vannamei is still coming in legally, so I have no hope now," said
one of the prawn farm operators.
In light of this remark,
Hjh Hasnah said that the Fisheries Department will be holding
discussions with the AGC in introducing regulations which will require
importers of fresh seafood to Brunei to procure health certification.
She said that this step will be implemented soon.
Another farmer called James
also expressed that he has been having difficulty in exporting Rostris
prawn to Kota Kinabalu (KK) in Sabah, one of their main buyers.
Previously, the processing plants there would not accept the prawns
because they did not have the permit for Rostris prawn, he said. But by
the time these plants acquired the documents, the culturing of Vannamei
prawn had already been legalised in Malaysia. This made it harder for
the Bruneian prawn farmers to export their products because, once again,
they had to compete with the cheaper price of Vannamei prawn, he added.
"KK is not very keen to
take our Rostris (prawn) anymore. The processing plants are offering a
price similar to Vannamei, which we cannot do," he said.
"It's killing us. Because
of the low price, it's killing us," stressed Leong of Greenville Farm.
Hjh Hasnah said that the
problem arose partly because the sultanate was small in relation to the
other countries that export prawn and that Brunei had no economies of
scale. She added that the department was in the trial stage of culturing
Monodon, or giant tiger prawn, which is hoped to help out the operators.
She said that the project has shown "encouraging progress" and insyallah,
could be implemented in a few month's time.
The operators also brought
up the problem of flooding in the farming area which resulted in the
loss of prawns. According to Hj Nasrul, the flooding occurs twice a
year, in June and December. They seek help from the department since
they do not have the capital to prepare for the natural disaster.
Another issue highlighted
was the problem with creditors who have delayed payment to the prawn
farm operators. This means that they have even less funds to do anything
about saving their businesses, said one prawn farmer.
"Our products cannot sell.
We are going to fail very soon," he said.
With the addition of prawn
feed prices increasing, the local operators are now running against the
clock, hoping to find a solution to their predicament.
"We are (already) in
trouble. We have to do this to save our business," said Hj Nasrul.
On behalf of the Fisheries
Department, Hjh Hasnah said that all the operators' concerns have been
noted and the department will hold talks with the AGC and relevant
agencies in order to find a solution. She also stated that another
session will be held with the operators once discussions with the AGC
have taken place.
According to one of the
prawn farmers, the Vannamei prawn takes around 100 days to grow to a
marketable size, a shorter period than the Rostris. The cost of the feed
to produce the Vannamei is also much lower. These factors results in
cheaper production costs of such prawns. However, the main disadvantage
was still that the Vannamei was susceptible to disease.
- Courtesy of
the Brunei Times -
