Chennai, June 29 (TIWN) Several state governments are showing interest in mud crab farming and are signing up agreements with the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Aquaculture (RGCA), said a senior official.

The official said the RGCA part of the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) is the only mud crab hatchery to get a patent for its technology.  The official also said that mud crab farming can be done at several defunct shrimp hatcheries. 

"We have patented the technology which ensures higher egg-to-crab survival rate. The egg-to-crab survival rate of our standardised technology is about 7.5 per cent to 17 per cent. The global average is only about 3 per cent," said S. Kandan, Project Director, RGCA.  He said the state governments of Maharashtra, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh have signed agreements with the RGCA to train their farmers in mud crab farming. 

"A fully-grown eight-month-old mud crab can weigh between 600 gm and 1 kg. The per kg rate of crab is about Rs 1,100," Kandan added.  According to Kandan, the patent for the technology was filed way back in 2011 and after a lot of clarifications, the patent was granted recently this year.  Kandan said an entrepreneur may need about two acres of land near the sea front and the total investment will be about Rs 3 crore to have a farm of 1.4 million to 3 million capacity.