Startup tech companies promise to further expand Indonesian aquaculture

Indonesia's aquaculture industry has enjoyed rapid expansion recently, growing 264% from 2008 to 2017, producing some 6.2 million metric tons of seafood in 2017, behind only China and India, according to data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. But more growth is coming thanks to a recent wave of new technology in the space, the Asean Post reports.

eFishery, an Indonesian company that promotes itself as the first ‘fishtech’ start-up in the country, is among those highlighted by the article. Founded in 2013, it provides an automatic feeding system which uses an in-water vibration-based sensor to help farmers better monitor feeding.

More than 1,300 fish and shrimp farmers in the country are using eFishery’s product across 3,000 ponds and have reported an average profit increase of more than 20%, according to the article. 

Another start-up, Jala, provides devices that monitor the quality of pond water in shrimp ponds, and Aruna serves as an e-commerce platform, allowing farmers to sell their produce directly to wholesale buyers.

The Indonesian aquaculture industry, which employs about 3.3 million people, still has room to grow. The country has 26m hectares of coastal land, suitable for aquaculture expansion, and as many as 80% of all fish producers and 70% of all shrimp producers are smallholders who use manual methods, the article adds.