Iran has recorded a four-fold increase in aquaculture shrimp production as the country seeks to use the existing potential along its southern coasts to make the seafood a main item of its export.

Iran’s minister of agriculture said on Thursday that shrimp production in the country had increased to 50,000 tons in early 2019, up more than four times compared to the 12,000 tons produced in 2013.

Inaugurating a large shrimp farm in the southern Iranian province of Hormuzgan, Mahmoud Hojjati said the increase in government investment in shrimp farming was like never before.

“This year there will be some 1,800 hectares of expansion in shrimp farming,” said the minister, adding that entrepreneurs and investors were entering the field at an unprecedented pace.

According to government estimates, Iran exported some 22,000 tons of shrimps, worth of around $150 million, in the last Iranian calendar year which ended in March 2018.

Hojjati said Iran was searching for new markets in the Persian Gulf region for its aquaculture farmed shrimp while plans were in place to further expand farming in areas along the southern coasts where unemployment is rife.

He said Iran had effectively overcome its old problems in shrimp farming including the viral diseases that affected production, saying the country had now an established supply chain which allowed for more rapid expansion in the sector.

Iran aims to meet a target of 60,000 tons of shrimp production by 2021. While expanding the farms in southern regions like the relatively poor province of Sistan and Baluchistan, authorities have also encouraged shrimp farming along the coast of the Caspian Sea in the province of Golestan over the past years.

In a bid to further expand the sector, Iran has launched joint schemes with countries like France for cultivation and export of the protein-rich food item.