Rice – shrimp farming fields in Bac Lieu Province’s Hong Dan District (Photo: VNA) The province, which is one of the country’s leading areas where shrimp is bredwith advanced techniques, had more than 25,800ha of super-intensive andintensive shrimp farming areas last year.
Super- intensive shrimp farming offers a high yield of 40 – 50 tonnes per hectareper crop and a profit of 1 billion VND (43,200 USD) per hectare for threeshrimp crops a year. It has a success rate of 80 – 90 percent.
It uses shrimp breeding ponds with oxygenation facilities, anti-sunlight nets andplastic sheets on the bed.
The province has established a 418ha hi-tech agriculture zone for shrimpdevelopment in Bac Lieu city’s Hiep Thanh commune.
About 90 percent of the construction of the hi-tech agriculture zone has beencompleted, and more than 30 companies have registered to invest in the zone.
In the zone, four companies and 76 households breed white-legged shrimp underthe super-intensive farming model on more than 160 ha.
The zone will also produce shrimp fry and shrimp food to serve demand. Shrimpfry producers now produce 32 – 35 billion fry of white- legged shrimp and blacktiger shrimp a year.
Last year, aquaculture production faced challenges because of drought,saltwater intrusion and the COVID-19 pandemic, but its output and yield roseafter the province took preventive measures and set up proper breedingschedules.
The province’s aquaculture output and seafood catch reached 400,000 tonnes lastyear, including 200,000 tonnes of shrimp.
Last year, the province’s fishery sector accounted for 58 percent of itsagriculture production value.
Luu Hoang Ly, director of the local Department of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment, said: “To achieve better results in aquaculture production thisyear, the province has invested more in infrastructure for shrimp cultivation,properly regulating water resources for shrimp cultivation and strictlymanaging input materials and shrimp fry for shrimp cultivation.”
Because saltwater intrusion in the ongoing dry season could occur in canals andponds, shrimp breeders using super-intensive and intensive farming modelsshould store fresh water in ponds and mix the fresh water with saline water incanals used for breeding shrimp, he said.
Shrimp breeders should not release shrimp for breeding this month because ofprolonged hot weather. Off-season rains could also cause sudden changes in thebreeding environment, he added.
To destroy disease pathogens and improve production efficiency, breeders shouldschedule a break between two shrimp crops, he said.
Besides super – intensive and intensive shrimp farming models, the province hasdeveloped other environmentally friendly models like rice – shrimp and shrimp –forest farming to produce clean shrimp for export and local consumption.
The province exported more than $800 million of seafood last year. It targetsharvesting 414,400 tonnes of aquatic products from aquaculture and catches thisyear, up 3.6 percent against last year, according to the department.
With a coastline of more than 56km, Bac Lieu has high potential for shrimpcultivation, especially brackish water shrimp. The province has more than136,000ha of shrimp cultivation area./.
VNA
