Four members of a cooperative group in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh have become the first Tra fish farmers in Vietnam to receive the GLOBALGAP certificate.

Headed by Giang Van Bay from Tan Hoa commune, Tieu Can district, the four farmers are raising Tra fish in 1.2 hectare of water surface.

The group is among beneficiaries of a sustainable Tra fish supply chain programme implemented in the Mekong Delta provinces of Tien Giang, Dong Thap, and Tra Vinh, with funding from European GLOBALGAP organization, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), GIZ of Germany, IDH of Holland and Anova Seafood of Holland.

This programme aims at equipping local fish farmers and feed makers with knowledge and practical skills to produce products meeting international requirements.

In Tra Vinh, 16 households received assistance from the programme from March 2011 to January 2014, with total funding reaching 1.9 billion VND.

A total of 110 households and 7 companies engage in Tra fish farming in the province, producing from 25,000 to 30,000 tonnes of Tra fish per year. The certified cooperative group will be a good model for others to follow, enhancing competitiveness of the local products in the global market.-VNA