Break-even Analysis and Profitability of Aquaculture Practices in India

Economics of different aquaculture practices in India were worked out on annual basis and the break-even analysis has been done to compute the price required at a given level of production to cover all costs. While the shrimp-oriented aquaculture industry in India recorded exceptional growth for the last three decades in spite of its high exposure to risk and uncertainties, the farming/culture of various other species has not picked up to the expected level enabling the optimum use of potential areas suitable for aquaculture. The break-even price for the tiger shrimp through semi-intensive culture system is worked out at Rs.161/kg and Rs. 126/kg by improved extensive method, while it fetches market sales price of Rs. 350 to 400/kg. White shrimp culture is less risky and the break-even price worked out to Rs.166 /kg in semi-intensive and Rs. 88/kg in improved extensive culture while it obtains market sales price of Rs. 300-350/kg. Break-even price of other farming systems like crab culture worked out to Rs. 107/kg and crab fattening to Rs. 173/kg while the market sales price of crab is Rs. 250/kg. In mussel culture, break-even price worked out to Rs. 3.35/kg (market sales price Rs.8/kg) while that of seaweeds (Gracilaria edulis) worked out to Rs. 7328/tonne in dried form (market sales price of dried seaweed is Rs.6000/tonne). The net profit varies for different systems of aquaculture from Rs.49,060/ha for traditional paddy cum prawn filtration system, Rs. 11.15 lakh/ha for crab culture and Rs.14.99 lakh/ha for crab fattening, Rs. 23.94 lakh/ha for pearl culture, Rs.9.48 lakh/ha/ year to Rs.6.03 lakh/ha/year for longline mussel culture in Karnataka and Kerala, Rs 1.85 lakh/ ha for rack and ren culture of edible oysters in Kerala and Rs.0.58/ha for the rope culture of Gracilaria edulis. The paper concludes that there is ample scope and feasibility for developing an integrated approach in the aquaculture practices in India. Other development strategies suggested for promoting aquaculture include introduction of legal framework for regulating all the types of aquaculture, delineating effective marketing strategies and development of parallel marketing avenues especially in the domestic market