Rakhine State Seek to Increase the Soft-Shell Crab Farming

At present, soft-shell crabs, which hold strong foreign markets, from Rakhine state are being farmed in 13 ponds in the total of 167.50 acres in Sittwe, Punnagyun, Kyauk Phyu and Taung Kote townships.  Rakhine state Department of Fisheries is now seeking to expend the farming business up to 500 acres.

          Regarding the farming business, the export-quality soft-shell crabs are increasingly produced over 600 tons as follows-

• First, regular mud crabs are collected and 100-gram-weight crabs are chosen and sent to the soft-shell farming ponds and farmed for 45-60 days until they shed their old hard shells.
• Then, soft shelled crabs are chosen and put them in fresh water for 30 minutes after passing through 15ppm chlorine to prevent the shells from hardening.
• Soft shelled crabs are then shipped off to cold rooms for processing.
• At the processing centre, the crabs are rinsed, disinfected, trimmed, cleaned, categorized in sizes, disinfected again, weighted, frozen, packed, and eventually exported to foreign markets.

The dried and crushed hard shell remains from the process of forming soft-shelled crafts from hard-shell crabs were usually left as waste.  However, now the dried and crushed hard shell are being processed to fish feeds or agriculture fertilizer creating job opportunities and extra incomes for locals.

• Soft-shell crabs farming in Rakhine state in the total of 167.50 acres in Sittwe, Punnagyun, Kyauk Phyu and Taung Kote townships are  to be increased up to 500 acres.
• At the processing centre, the crabs are rinsed, disinfected, trimmed, cleaned, categorized in sizes, disinfected again, weighted, frozen, packed, and eventually exported to foreign markets.