Thai shrimpers lose out to rice growers

15 July 1998

Thai shrimpers lose out to rice growers

THAI shrimp farmers face economic ruin following the introduction of legislation in favour of rice producers.

Last week, the government declared shrimp farms in the fertile rice growing plains of central Thailand illegal because of their potential damaging effects to water and soil.

Salt, shrimp faeces and waste bacterial are enemies of paddy. When they are dumped into irrigation canals after a shrimp harvest, they put almost half of Thailands annual rice output of 21 million tonnes at risk in the central plains.