Event · Event
Community engagement event organized by Divron Bioventures and Australia's MDF
Divron gathered the fishing community, local authorities and business partners in Vavunikulam to mark successful export of giant freshwater prawn.
MP Shanthi Srikandarasa lights the oil lamp. In the background from left: MDF Sri Lanka Country Director and Deputy CEO Shahroz Jalil; Jasper Dermul (Divron Bioventures); Divron Bioventures Director Dr. Tim DeJager; Northern Provincial Council Minister of Fisheries Kandiah Sivanesan; DFAT Head of Development Cooperation Victoria Coakley; and Divron Bioventures Director Shan Meemanage.
Seafood producer Divron Bioventures gathered the fishing community, local government authorities and its business partners in Vavunikulam to celebrate its successful exporting of giant freshwater prawn to several high-end international markets.
The event was attended by Victoria Coakley, Australia's Head of Development Cooperation in Sri Lanka, and a delegation from the High Commission. The Market Development Facility — Australia's flagship private sector development programme in Sri Lanka — has been a key supporter and facilitator of Divron's business expansion over the past few years. Also present were Shanthi Srikandarasa, MP, and Kandiah Sivanesan, Northern Provincial Council Minister of Fisheries.
Directors Shan Meemanage and Dr. Tim DeJager have built a successful and sustainable business centred on the rearing and harvesting of a special variety of giant prawn, which can sometimes grow up to over half a kilogram.
Divron has a nursery in Negombo, where it mimics the prawns' natural habitat and grows prawn larvae, following which it stocks selected reservoirs in the Northern Province, which has the ideal conditions, with the partially grown prawns.
MDF encountered Divron in 2015. As Dr. DeJager said, the value chain existed in small fragments, but Divron needed support to connect the links. MDF stepped in to strengthen the chain — helping Divron establish a Regional Centre in Vavuniya, which acts as a hub for the transport of both baby prawns to the reservoirs and full-grown prawns from them, and adding to its transport network by cost-sharing on the purchase of the trucks necessary to move the fresh product from point to point.
Through the successful business partnership, MDF has supported Divron to expand its cold storage facilities, provide reliable information to fishers on harvesting and post-harvest best practices, and connect more local fisher communities to the network.
Head of Development Cooperation Victoria Coakley said Australia is committed to partnering with businesses like Divron that have the potential to take world-class Sri Lankan products and produce to the international market. The giant prawn is becoming a must-have on the list of tourists in Sri Lanka, and products like this are flag-bearers for the authentic Sri Lankan experience visitors to the country are looking for.
