AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF INDIAN WHITE SHRIMP (FENNEROPENAEUS INDICUS) PRODUCTION IN SOUTHERN PROVINCES OF IRAN

We studied production costs, factor costs and profitability of shrimp farming in the four southerncoastal provinces of Iran during the year 2000. A comprehensive questionnaire was used for data collection. A number of 144 farms were randomly selected, classified and analyzed. An expert team comprising an economist, statistician and shrimp aqua-culturist completed the questionnaire, while referring to all selected farms. Results showed that shrimp. larvae stocking density averaged 224966 per hectares and the shrimp production averaged 169kglha. On average, food, PL and labour costs per hectare were found to be Rials 10000, 6000 and 2000 respectively. In the year 2000, the average profit for the four provinces of shrimp farming was Rials 9555 per kg. of cultured shrimp. Hormozgan province had the highest profit with Rials 20092 per kg and Khouzestan province had the lowest with Rials 4576 perkg of the cultured shrimp.