Seafood is the most traded food commodity in the world, with an estimated value of over 236 billion USD in 2023. Shrimp and prawn aquaculture is the fourth most valuable and the second most traded group of aquaculture species worldwide, boasting a production value of over 40 billion USD. Despite this, financial services, such as lending and insurance, do not adequately serve the shrimp aquaculture industry. The main reason for this is the significant catastrophic losses associated with diseases that occurred during the 1990s and 2000s.
The opacity of the data and the uncertainty of pond conditions increased risk for financial parties, leading them to significantly reduce their exposure to the sector. However, new technologies focusing on automated data collection, structuring, and management have enabled farms to enhance their decision-making processes, thereby allowing for better risk management and profit optimization.
Utilizing technologies that facilitate real-time data estimation and forecasting on biomass and water quality paves the way for data-driven decision-making, enabling the creation of fairly priced insurance products that will foster a suitable lending environment. Overcoming this hurdle will initiate a new revolution in the shrimp aquaculture industry, ensuring more secure and sustainable growth to benefit all stakeholders involved.
A real case is described in this work, presenting how good farm data, combined with close and remote sensing data, modelled with Shrimpl’s bioeconomic and risk models, enable financial services to the underserved shrimp aquaculture industry.