Coops Eye Rm50 Mil Project To Farm King Prawns In Penang

---

A file photo of an Asia Aquaculture farm in Tawau. (Facebook pic)PETALING JAYA: Some 21 cooperatives in Penang have joined hands in a project to farm king prawns at a site in Teluk Tempoyak, on the southeast of Penang Island
The king prawns, scientific name litopenaeus vannamei, are also known as whiteleg shrimp and are a variety of prawn of the eastern Pacific Ocean commonly caught or farmed for food
The cooperative societies, members of the national cooperatives movement Angkasa, have begun a pilot project on a 2 hectare site in Teluk Tempoyak
They have plans for a bigger project which calls for an investment of RM50 million on a 40-hectare site owned by Perda, a federal development agency for Penang
Angkasa president Abdul Fattah Abdullah said the project would be carried out in collaboration with a private company, Asia Aquaculture Holding Sdn Bhd
Asia Aquaculture is a subsidiary of Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Co. Ltd. and operates 7 farms in Malaysia, producing about 5,000 tonnes of prawns a year
“Cooperatives in Penang, which mostly conduct agro-based businesses, need to do high-impact businesses,” Fattah said after attending a workshop on the project according to Bernama. “From Angkasa’s point of view, Penang has the potential to become a producer of litopenaeus vannamei shrimp for domestic and foreign markets such as Japan, Korea and China.”Fattah said he and several government agencies as well as some cooperatives were drafting a paper to be presented to the minister for entrepreneur development and cooperatives, Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar
“We need the support and assistance of the federal government. This project involves huge investment and cost … estimated to be around RM50 million,” he said
Among the agencies involved are the Co-operatives Commission of Malaysia, the Penang regional development authority (Perda), the Fisheries Development Authority of Malaysia and the Penang Agriculture Department
Asia Aquaculture director Mohammad Nor Saat said the king prawns would be reared in canvas tanks. Each tank could produce 4-5 tonnes in eight months
His team was also in the process of making the project site in Teluk Tempoyak the focus for agrotourism and aquaculture research, he added. - FMT

---