Dhaka: Bangladesh’s first crab hatchery has successfully released its crablets in a pond at Shyamnagar upazila in Satkhira.

The crablets were released on Saturday in a pond of the hatchery at Kalabari of the upazila, said a press release from Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) here.

PKSF financed its partner organisation Nowabenki Gonomukhi Foundation (NGF) to set up the crab hatchery under the PKSF project of Promoting Agricultural Commericalisation and Enterprises (PACE) for the development of the growing crab farming in the country’s costal areas.

Though different initiatives were taken at government and non-government levels in the past to produce crablets in any local hatchery those virtually failed.

Now over 50,000 people are engaged in collecting crabs in the country’s costal areas, including Satkhira, Khulna and Bagerhat. Some 30,250 crab farmers are cultivating crabs together with shrimps on 3,500 hectares of lands in the country.

The number of crab farmers is going up day by day as many small shrimp cultivators are now interested in crab farming as it is three-four times more profitable.

There is now the demand for 30 million crablets in the country’s costal crab farmers.

On April 6 last year, PKSF Chairman Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad inaugurated the construction of the crab hatchery under a joint venture involving Tk 4.72 crore. PKSF provided Tk 4.34 crore, while NGF Tk 38.50 lakh.

PKSF also provided technical support to set up the hatchery to produce some four million crablets a year.