Indonesian start-up adapts app to support shrimp farmers through COVID-19 crisis
Shrimp farmers are a hardy bunch. In recent years, the industry has been hit by a number of viral diseases, such as the White Spot Disease and Early Mortality Syndrome. The Asian shrimp industry alone reported to have lost at least USD $20 billion in the last decade. This series of shocks has led the industry to bounce back better: with farmers increasingly cutting out use of antibiotics, reducing environmental impact of shrimp production and finding technological solutions to boost their resilience. Last year, Indonesian start-up JALA together with IDH launched a data-driven system to monitor and prevent shrimp diseases. But can these experiences bolster the industry’s immunity to the global impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic?