Dilan Fernando - Chairman of Taprobane Seafoods in conversation with a farmer

Taprobane Seafoods, Sri Lanka’s largest and most integrated seafood company opened its second Taprobane Aquaculture Service centre in Puttalam recently to enhance access for shrimp farmers and to promote sustainable farming practices while reducing chemical usage. The centre was inaugurated by the Chairman of Taprobane Seafoods Dilan Fernando  in the presence of representatives from local government and customers. The new Taprobane Aqua Services centre is a one-stop-shop for all aquaculture products and services to drive a sustainable and eco-friendly shrimp sector through controlled intensification. Shrimp farmers can also avail themselves of equipment on lease or purchase for aquaculture through Taprobane’s partnership with UTE  (Caterpillar).  

By setting up yet another centre, the company connects directly with farmers, reducing middlemen and paying direct to farmers, thus ensuring good prices; working with the government on policies, regulations and infrastructure (for example, electrification, canal dredging and roads); helping older generation farmers move more quickly into utilizing new technology; shifting mindsets and onboarding farmers on to new production and platforms; working with the government to change the lingering sentiment that shrimp farming is bad; protecting our environment, and 100% transparency within our sector to ensure human rights are being protected.

Taprobane’s head of Technical services, Vijay Kallepalli held a workshop and communicated to the farmers best practices to ensure they are sustainable and profitable. Vijay is a 30-year veteran of the Aquaculture industry, has international experience, and is globally regarded as an expert in Sustainable Shrimp farming

The centre’s slogan is ‘No Antibiotics No Pestiside, all feed and fertilizer will not be harmful to the environment for best sustainability practices’. At the time of shrimp harvesting, farmers usually release the water with a high percentage of nitrogen to streams or into the lagoon which can increase algae and destroy the environment and change the bio diversity of the water. Thus, Taprobane Seafoods is educating and encouraging farmers to have Effluent Treatment Ponds to minimise nutrient mobilization by introducing the Recirculation Water System for resource water purification. As a result, the same water can be used for the crop.

The centre will also target electricity consumption by educating farmers on the usage of 10 gauge blowers instead of the usage of parallel wheel aerators, thus reducing electricity usage. Enhancing their sustainability agenda further, Taprobane Aquaculture Services is now online and cloud based, thus going totally paperless. In its sustainability drive, the company is working towards eradicating plastic usage with the promotion of cloth bags, and reducing (leading to eradicating) the usage of plastic cups or plates. All refuse including paper, plastic and food waste is recycled.

Vijay Kallepalli – Head of Technical Services of Taprobane Seafoods conducting a workshop for the farmers

The entrance to the new Aquaculture Service Centre in Puttalam