Brussels (VNA) – More than four decades after first visiting the Mekong Delta to study aquaculture potential in a country emerging from war, Belgian Professor Patrick Sorgeloos has witnessed Vietnam’s rise as an aquaculture powerhouse and contributed to the development of its sector.
Speaking to Vietnam News Agency correspondents in Brussels, Professor Sorgeloos recalled more than 40 years of cooperation with Vietnamese partners, including Can Tho University, Research Institutes for Aquaculture No. 2 and 3, and businesses in the Mekong Delta. He has trained and worked with hundreds of Vietnamese experts, researchers and engineers, many of whom now hold leading positions in the sector.
He said the key outcome of successful capacity building was “mastery”. Since the early 1990s, hundreds of Vietnamese students have pursued master’s and doctoral studies in aquaculture in Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, the UK and Japan. Upon returning home, they brought not only qualifications but also technological expertise, which they used to train others, develop aquaculture extension systems and establish businesses.
Sorgeloos cited Artemia farming in Vinh Chau, Soc Trang province (now part of Can Tho city), as a successful example. The small brine shrimp successfully adapted to local conditions and became an essential live feed for the aquaculture industry. Four decades on, Vietnam’s Artemia production model has been used by the World Bank as a reference for aquaculture development programmes elsewhere.
Based on this experience, he said Vietnam has great potential to develop and strengthen its position as an aquaculture powerhouse. From about 415,000 tonnes in the mid-1990s, the country’s farmed aquatic production has risen to more than 5.75 million tonnes, accounting for around 60% of total aquatic output.
However, he said Vietnam must reconsider its growth model if it wants to advance further. First, it needs to address diseases by shifting from intensive monoculture towards integrated multi-species farming and circular production, where waste from one species can serve as nutrients for another.
Second, Vietnam should select technologies suited to its own conditions rather than replicate foreign models. He cautioned against applying European and North American recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) wholesale in Vietnam, where millions of small-scale farmers remain an important part of the sector. Instead, Vietnam could selectively apply circular principles to traditional pond-based systems.
Third, the sector should shift from competing on volume to competing on quality and sustainability. Sorgeloos noted that increasingly stringent EU requirements, including sustainability certification and carbon-footprint rules, should be viewed as an opportunity to move up the value chain.
He stressed that Vietnam’s greatest asset is not simply its production volume but the human-resource ecosystem built over four decades, involving training and research institutions, the State and businesses. He expressed confidence that with appropriate adjustments, Vietnam can strengthen its leading position in global aquatic exports./.
VNA
