INDIA - The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) has joined forces with Switzerland's Coop, a retail and wholesale business, to develop organic Black Tiger Shrimp (P. Mondodon) farming for the Swiss market. 

The organizations will enable the certification of a shrimp hatchery and a small-scale feed mill as part of the start-to-finish operation. The memorandum of understanding was signed during the India International Seafood Show, earlier this week.

Following a model the Coop has already established successfully in Vietnam, Indian shrimp farmers and processors will receive technical input to enable them to follow procedures that conform with international standards for organic produce. The Coop will purchase the shrimp at a premium and cover part of the training to offset the higher costs of organic production. Initially a pilot project will be run in Kerala and if successful, expanded to other locations.

Employing some 85,000 people, the Coop has more than 10,000 supermarkets in Switzerland among its businesses.