As big supermarkets pursue profits, new research shows growing exploitation of shrimp farmers

BANGKOK (AP) — Indonesian shrimp farmer Yulius Cahyonugroho operated more than two dozen ponds only a few years ago, employing seven people and making more than enough to support his family. Since then, the 39-year-old says the prices he gets from purchasers have fallen by half and he’s had to scale back to four workers and about one-third the ponds, some months not even breaking even. “It is more stable than the shrimp farms,” said the farmer from Indonesia’s Central Java province. Yulius Cahyonugroho poses for a photo at his shrimp farm in Kebumen, Central Java, Indonesia, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara) As big Western supermarkets make windfall profits, their aggressive pursuit of ever-lower wholesale prices is causing misery for people at the bottom end of the supply chain — people like Cahyonugroho who produce and process the seafood, according to an investigation by an alliance of NGOs focused on three of the world’s largest producers of shrimp provided to The Associated Press ahead of its publication on Monday. The analysis of the industry in Vietnam, Indonesia and India, which provide about half the shrimp in the world’s top four markets, found a 20%-60% drop in earnings from pre-pandemic levels as producers struggle to meet pricing demands by cutting labor costs. The report also found hazardous working conditions, particularly in India and parts of Indonesia, and even child labor in some places in India. “The supermarket procurement practices changed, and the working conditions were affected — directly and rapidly,” said Katrina Nakamura of Sustainability Incubator, who wrote the regional report and whose Hawaii-based nonprofit led the research on the industry in Vietnam. “Those two things go together because they’re tied together through the pricing.” Workers pull a net as they harvest shrimps at a farm in Kebumen, Centra Java, Indonesia, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara) Workers prepare a truck loaded with shrimp containers at a farm in Kebumen, Centra Java, Indonesia, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara) Farm workers Andika Yudha Agusta, right, and his brother Dias Yudho Prihantoro, left, harvest shrimps at a farm in Kebumen, Central Java, Indonesia, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara) Tubagus Haeru Rahayu, the director general of aquaculture for Indonesia’s Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, said he was surprised by the report’s findings and had already reached out to people in the industry to investigate the price pressures. “If there is pressure like that, there will definitely be a reaction — not only in Indonesia but in Vietnam and India too,” he told the AP in an interview at his Jakarta office. Supermarkets linked to facilities where exploited labor was reported by workers include Target, Walmart and Costco in the United States, Britain’s Sainsbury’s and Tesco, and Aldi and Co-op in Europe. Switzerland’s Co-op said it had a “zero tolerance” policy for violations of labor law, and that its producers “receive fair and market-driven prices.” Germany’s Aldi did not specifically address the issue of pricing, but said it uses independent certification schemes to ensure responsibly sourcing for farmed shrimp products, and would continue to monitor the allegations. Sainsbury’s referred to a comment from the British Retail Consortium industry group, which said its members were committed to sourcing products at a “fair, sustainable price” and that the welfare of people and communities in supply chains is fundamental to their purchasing practices. None of the other retailers named in the report responded to multiple requests for comment on the report, titled “Human Rights for Dinner.” In Vietnam, researchers found that workers who peel, gut and devein shrimp typically work six or seven days a week, often in rooms kept extremely cold to keep the product fresh. “The work day for peelers consists of standing in a refrigerated and disinfected room and working extremely rapidly with a knife while taking care not to make a mistake,” researchers said. Andika Yudha Agusta, right, and his brother Dias Yudho Prihantoro who work together at a shrimp farm sit inside the hut where they stay during their work shifts at the farm in Kebumen, Central Java, Indonesia, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers issued a statement calling the allegations in the report “unfounded, misleading and detrimental to the reputation of Vietnam’s shrimp exports.” It cited government labor policies in a four-page statement but did not specifically address the findings, and did not respond to queries. After food supply chain disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission reported earlier this year that some grocers have used the situation “as an opportunity to further raise prices to increase their profits, which remain elevated today.” The demands for lower wholesale shrimp prices — combined with rising production costs and an oversupply — means farmers often must sell their products under cost just to keep operations going, the Sustainability Incubator analysis found. “The opportunity is there,” he said, “but you need a lot of capital if you want to jump into something like that.” The middlemen who buy the shrimp obfuscate the true sources of shrimp that appear in Western supermarkets, so many retailers may not be following ethical commitments they’ve made about procuring shrimp. Only about 2,000 of the 2 million shrimp farms in the major producing countries of India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Ecuador, Thailand and Bangladesh are certified by either the Aquaculture Stewardship Council or the Best Aquaculture Practices ecolabel. Farm worker Andika Yudha Agusta feed shrimps at a shrimp farm in Kebumen, Central Java, Indonesia, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara) “With the yield from most certified shrimp farms being very small, it is mathematically impossible for certified farms to produce enough shrimp per month to supply all of the supermarkets that boast commitments to purchasing certified shrimp,” the report said. In July, the European Union adopted a new directive requiring companies to “identify and address adverse human rights and environmental impacts of their actions inside and outside Europe.” Britain’s Groceries Code Adjudicator office published a “deep dive” into views of suppliers about the conduct of supermarkets, saying they had chosen to conduct “warfare” with suppliers. “Prices to farmers would be at least 200% higher than today if the shrimp sold in Global North supermarkets was made at minimum wage rates and in compliance with applicable domestic laws for labor, workplace health, and safety,” the report said. “This would not necessarily mean higher consumer prices, because supermarkets are already profiting at existing consumer prices.” Researchers from the Corporate Accountability Lab found that Indian shrimp industry workers face “dangerous and abusive conditions” and that highly salinated water from newly dug hatcheries and ponds, tainted with chemicals and toxic algae, are contaminating surrounding water and soil. Unpaid labor prevails, including salaries below minimum wage, unpaid overtime, wage deductions for costs of work and “significant” debt bondage, the report found. In Indonesia, three non-profit research organizations found that shrimp workers’ wages have declined since the pandemic and now average $160 per month, below Indonesia’s minimum wage in most of the biggest shrimp-producing provinces. Farm worker Dias Yudho Prihantoro sits on his bed inside the hut where he and his brother stay during their work shifts at a shrimp farm in Kebumen, Central Java, Indonesia, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara) Workers sort shrimps at a farm in Kebumen, Centra Java, Indonesia, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara) Still, given widespread poverty most workers said they’re happy to have their jobs, said lead researcher Kharisma Nugroho of the Migunani Research Institute. “It’s exploitation of the vulnerability of the workers, because they have a lack of options,” he said. “They’re paid the minimum wages but they have to work 150% of the normal,” he told the AP. They’re still there.” The regional report compiled more than 500 interviews conducted in-person with workers in their native languages, in India, Indonesia and Vietnam, supplemented with secondary data and interviews from Thailand, Bangladesh and Ecuador. After the Indonesia country report was issued recently, government officials asked to meet with the authors, and Nugroho said they showed a “genuine willingness to improve the situation.” A worker throws a net as he harvests shrimps at a farm in Kebumen, Central Java, Indonesia, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. Ecuador has an industrial approach to shrimp farming — unlike the smaller, often family-run operations in Southeast Asia — and is now the world’s largest exporter of shrimp. It has the lowest prices, followed by India; China, which wasn’t included in the report; then Vietnam and Indonesia. Meantime, with their relatively higher prices, Vietnam’s exports were down 25% in 2023 in volume Indonesia’s dropped 9.5%. “Labor exploitation in shrimp aquaculture industries is not company, sector, or country-specific,” the report concluded. “Instead, it is the result of a hidden business model that exploits people for profit.” ___ Associated Press writer Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report. – This Summarize was created by Neural News AI (V1). Source: https://apnews.com/d29e3c24a1a20d3815f5418829a6bbe9