Manoj Sharma, PhD

A pioneer shrimp farming professional with 30 years of experience in the sustainable shrimp farming practices. Played a major role behind the development of Blue Revolution in Surat District of Gujarat, the transformation of coastal (khar) wasteland into the productive shrimp producing land. His contributions to the field include:

• playing an important role in the development of sustainable shrimp farming in Gujarat, India with more than 6000 ha area benefiting thousands of rural people and coastal fishermen
• developing the shrimp industry in Gujarat to the value of 2500 crores benefiting lakhs of individuals directly or indirectly
• developing the concept of satellite shrimp farming which has brought manifold increase in shrimp production in Gujarat
• playing a key role in the development of GAA (Gujarat Aquaculture Association) where all the Gujarat-based farmers and fishermen gain knowledge and technology interventions for their individual benefit
• promoting reverse migration as the rural village people got a source of income up to 5 to 6 lakhs per annum for themselves which removed there dependency on the urban cities for their livelihood
• imparting the technical expertise in the shrimp culture practices at various platforms which made it accessible to all the fishermen community especially the women community which made them self-reliant
• participating as an eminent guest speaker across many national and international platforms

Manoj is owner of Mayank Aquaculture, one of the first shrimp farms in Gujarat, and owner of Zhingalala Restaurant, which serves shrimp from own production directly from pond to plate.