Charoen Pokphand Foods Plc (CPF) has unveiled closed-door shrimp farming as a method to fight deadly EMS (early mortality syndrome).
Healthy critters: Mr Sujint with shrimp farmed using the closed-door method.
The disease has halved Thai shrimp production to about 300,000 tonnes this year.
EMS caused serious damage to shrimp farming in China in 2009 and in Vietnam and Malaysia in 2010. It was first detected in shrimp farms in Thailand in late 2011.
The toll of the disease is mass mortality of shrimp during the first 20-30 days of culture in grow-out ponds.
CPF executive vice-president Sujint Thammasart expressed confidence that the close-door, biosecure system is an effective way to prevent disease and boost production.
CPF's shrimp production is expected to increase from 30,000 tonnes in 2013 to 50,000 tonnes next year.
"We forecast that both production and price will continue to rise after shrimp farmers solve EMS," said Mr Sujint, who oversees aquatic farming research at CPF.
The unit has taken more than a year to figure out how to battle the disease, introducing the solution at the Roiphet Farm in Trat.
The new model, with the cooperation of the Fisheries Department, encourages farmers to nurse nauplius (young larvae) for at least 30 days before release to the ponds, yielding a 80-90% survival rate.
The system features automatic feeding and an aerator machine to boost the feed conversion ratio. The three shrimp sizes from the hatchery, post-larva to mature shrimp, are fed under one roof to prevent infection during transport.
Mr Sujint said CPF plans to spend 500 million baht a year on research in aquaculture, particularly for shrimp.