Members of the Myanmar Shrimp Association inspect a shrimp farm run by major Thai seafood producer CP Group, during their July 23-26 trip to southern Thailand. Pic: Myanmar Shrimp Association

MYANMAR shrimp farmers should work harder to acquire quality-recognition certificates to better tap export markets as well as build a more skilled labour base, an official from the Myanmar Shrimp Association (MSA) said after returning from a research trip to Thailand.

The MSA sent a 14-member delegation to Thai shrimp farms last month to learn from the neighbouring country’s success in producing and exporting the seafood.

Association chairman U Hla Maung Shwe, who led the delegation on the July 23-26 trip to shrimp farms, hatcheries and processing plants in southern Thailand, said Myanmar’s organisa-tional structures and labour practices paled in comparison with those used in the neighbouring kingdom.

CP’s enclosed shrimp farms are yet to be emulated in Myanmar. Pic: Myanmar Shrimp Association

“They use advanced farming technologies, like farming under a roof in a controlled environment, which helps them achieve a higher level of production,” U Hla Maung Shwe said.

Greater productivity meant lower per-unit costs, he explained. “They can produce like factories. Their production runs according to a schedule, and they don’t have to worry about the weather.”

The high quality of Thai shrimp was also recognised worldwide, U Hla Maung Shwe said.

“They pass all the international quality-assurance standards. Most of their farms have quality certificates, and that’s one of the most import things if you’re going to compete in the world market.

“It’s something our farmers need to practice more widely.”

He added that Myanmar’s workforce also appeared to lag behind their Thai counterparts.

“They only need a few workers compared to our farms and most of their workers are very skilful,” U Hla Maung Shwe said.

The MSA delegation visited Thailand at the invitation of the Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group, which U Hla Maung Shwe said provides about 10 percent of the 500,000 tonnes of shrimp Thailand exports annually.

By comparison, Myanmar exported some 25,000 tonnes of prawns in 2006-07, earning US$120 million. Of this, only $13 million came from shrimp farms, with most prawns sourced from the open seas, U Hla Maung Shwe said.

As such, he stressed Myanmar farmers should take whatever lessons they can from Thailand as they chase a bumped-up export target of $60 million this fiscal year.

“Some of their methods are not so different from what we do here, while others are much more advanced. And although we can’t make investments like they do at the moment, there are other good things we can take from them,” U Hla Maung Shwe said.

Something Myanmar shrimp farmers likely wish they could take from Thailand is a reliable electricity supply, which U Hla Maung Shwe said put producers there at an advantage because they did not need to run more expensive diesel generators.

“They can get electricity to run the machines at their farms,” he said. “And they can easily transport their products to processing factories in a short time.”