Farmed shrimp harvest. (Photo: Stock File)
The National Aquaculture Chamber (CNA) estimates that the shrimp sector will close this year with growth in production volume of 25 per cent year on year.
"Ecuador has maintained steady growth in recent years and this year is projected to least at 25 per cent in production volume compared to 2013, changing from 475 million pounds to about 540 million pounds in 2014," stated José Camposano, CNA president.
Moreover, these exports would represent around USD 2,500 million in revenue while in 2013 this figure was USD 1,800 million, Andes reported.
Camposano stressed Ecuador's attitude to overcome this issue given the cases of white spot spread, and to create the conditions to be recognized as one of the best shrimp in the world, obtaining quality certifications and proper environmental management from international organizations.
Furthermore, he recalled that "Ecuador certified the first shrimp production farm in the world under the standards of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on aquaculture sustainability."
"We also received another award that proves what shrimp is the highest quality," he added.
The shrimp industry employs about 180,000 people in at least 3,000 farms covering some 210,000 hectares in Ecuador's coastal provinces.
In five of the first eight months of 2014 the shrimp managed to displace the banana as leader of the country's exports, according to statistics from the Central Bank of Ecuador (BCE).
To Camposano, growth in shrimp exports is mainly due to the improvement of the production process.
"The importance of the last 18 months lies in the fact that the growth rate is driven by medium and small farms that reinvested this income on technology," he ensured, according to the newspaper El Universo.