Prospects of crab culture for rural development

Abstract

The importance of live mud crabs as an export commod ity has opened up great opportunities for crab fanning in India. Mud crab fanning is practised in commercial scale in countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan mainly by the artisanal sector. In India mud crab farming is picking up in many maritime states as an important source of income generation in the coastal rural sector. The present paper reviews the mud crab farming methods, rates of production and economics, and points out the problems and measures for sustained development of crab fanning in the country.