The Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sangham and the Andhra Pradesh Tenant Farmers’ Association have demanded immediate government intervention to address the financial crisis confronting the aqua farmers, and have announced a round-table meeting in Vijayawada on July 28 to discuss measures for protecting the sector.

In a joint statement on Thursday, sangham State president G. Eswaraiah and association State general secretary P. Jamalaiah said the meeting would evolve a strategy and press the government to resolve the industry’s problems.

MSP sought

The organisations demanded that the government fix a minimum support price of ₹300 per kg for 100-count shrimp and ensure traders procured shrimp at the declared rate. They also sought immediate rollback of feed price hike, alleging that the companies had increased prices by ₹10,000 to ₹16,000 per tonne, adding to the farmers’ losses.

The leaders accused the seafood traders of forming a cartel to suppress shrimp prices, depriving farmers of fair returns. They also urged the government to curb the sale of substandard shrimp seed and medicines, and take measures to control diseases such as ‘white gut’ and ‘vibrio’, which they said were causing heavy losses.

According to them, shrimp farming is spread across nearly six lakh acres in nine districts of Andhra Pradesh, involving about two lakh farmers and supporting the livelihood of 15–20 lakh people, while earning substantial foreign exchange.

They alleged that both the Central and State governments had neglected the sector’s problems, and appealed to the aqua farmers, experts and other stakeholders to participate in the round-table meeting.

Published - July 23, 2026 06:25 pm IST