Pakistan Sets 120-Day Deadline For National Shrimp Farming Roadmap
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✧ GENERATE BRIEFING
The Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on Aquaculture and the Shrimp Value Chain, chaired by Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Muhammad Junaid Anwar Chaudhry, met on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, and instituted a strict 120-day deadline to formulate a comprehensive roadmap aimed at expanding domestic shrimp farming, improving seafood processing, and driving export growth. The policy framework kicks off a broader 24-month national implementation and review timeline designed to convert aquaculture into a high-value foreign exchange earner.Key committee decisions, technical structures, and provincial plans include:Governance and Technical Architecture: The sub-committee constituted seven technical working groups alongside a dedicated projection and costing unit tasked with producing 14 baseline reports and export projection matrices. An immediate 14-day action plan was approved for federal and provincial entities to submit initial baseline data.Sindh 3,500-Acre Feasibility: Sindh provincial officials confirmed that a detailed feasibility study is underway for a proposed 3,500-acre mega shrimp farm. The province emphasized addressing critical processing, value addition, and international supply-chain traceability requirements.
Pakistan has set a 120-day deadline to develop a comprehensive roadmap for expanding shrimp farming, improving seafood value addition, and increasing export revenues as part of a strategic push to build a commercially viable aquaculture industry.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the prime ministerial sub-committee on aquaculture and the shrimp value chain, chaired by Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Muhammad Junaid Anwar Chaudhry in Islamabad on Tuesday, October 27, 2026.
Governance Structure and 14-Day Action Plan
The approved roadmap forms part of a broader 24-month implementation and review process intended to establish a verified baseline for the aquaculture sector, resolve structural value-chain bottlenecks, and modernize processing facilities to meet European and East Asian export standards.
| Governance Body / Task Force | Organizational Scope / Deliverables | Timeline / Execution |
| 7 Technical Working Groups | Industry value chain, feed, hatcheries, processing & exports | 14 Reports & Projections |
| Projection & Costing Unit | Financial modeling, CAPEX requirements & export targets | Integrated within 120 days |
| 14-Day Immediate Action Plan | Institutional data collection, gap analysis & baseline mapping | November 10, 2026 Completion |
| National Implementation Framework | 24-Month progress monitoring, reviews & milestone tracking | 2026–2028 Rollout |
Provincial Initiatives: Sindh Feasibility and Punjab Expansion
During the session, provincial representatives presented active projects and structural challenges facing regional aquaculture expansion:
- Sindh Province: Officials disclosed that a feasibility study is currently being conducted for a proposed 3,500-acre commercial shrimp farm. Sindh highlighted key challenges surrounding seafood processing infrastructure, cold-chain logistics, and export traceability—a crucial prerequisite for international health certification.
- Punjab Province: Punjab Secretary for Aquaculture and Fisheries Rana Muhammad Saleem Afzal detailed ongoing efforts to expand farmed shrimp acreage and establish specialized hatcheries to supply high-quality post-larvae (PL) juveniles to local growers.
Strategic Focus on Export Competitiveness
Expanding shrimp aquaculture provides Pakistan with an opportunity to diversify its traditional wild-caught fisheries export profile into high-margin farmed seafood. The roadmap aims to attract private sector capital into hatchery development, commercial feed manufacturing, cold storage facilities, and certified processing units.
The meeting was attended by senior officials from provincial fisheries departments across Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan, as well as representatives from the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) and the Ministry of National Food Security and Research.
