Firm training mud crab farmers for export opportunity

A SEAFOOD business is training mud crab farmers on how to make money out of it for export.
Grankle Seafood Marketing Ltd PNG managing director Bernard Magaru said mud crabs were a multi-million fishery and resource owners needed to manage it properly.
He suggested that farmers form cooperative societies and conduct trainings on how to manage the farms.
Magaru said the markets were in Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Europe and New Zealand and they needed to boost the supply to sustain the export.
Meanwhile, women from South Fly in Western brought in their samples of mud crabs and Magaru said a team would go to Western to conduct training.
“We will teach them how to set up their farms,” he said.
“We will provide the market.
“We have the market but the supply is not enough.”
Magaru said they needed to supply 100 kilogrammes a week.
“So the only way to do it is to teach the resource owners to farm it and have a lot of supply so we can sustain that export,” he said.
Magaru said in 2018, mud crab exports brought K90 million to the country.
“In 2019, it brought in K110 million,” he said.
“Last year, it dropped to about K70 million.”