Farmers harvest giant river prawns in Kien Giang Province’s Vinh Thuan district. (Source: VNA)Kien Giang (VNS/VNA) - The Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang will expand varioussustainable shrimp farming models to meet its target of producing 76,000 tonnesthis year, slightly up from last year, according to its Department ofAgriculture and Rural Development.
Farmers and companies inthe province, which is one of the delta’s largest shrimp producers, use modelslike industrial and semi-industrial farming, advanced extensive farming, shrimp– rice farming, and shrimp – forest farming.
The province plans tocarry out industrial and semi-industrial farming on 3,100ha this year, mostlyin the Long Xuyen Quadrangle and U Minh Thuong district, compared to 2,590halast year.
Farmers are breedingshrimp, mostly white-legged shrimp, under the industrial farming model on anarea of 150ha so far, according to the department. Companies have registeredfor more than 1,000ha of farms.
The province has createdfavourable conditions for companies to tie up with farmers to establish shrimpproduction chains that ensure steady prices and improve farmers’ incomes.
Do Minh Nhut, deputydirector of the department, said the industrial and semi-industrial models havebeen developed in recent times.
The use of advanced farmingtechniques that are sustainable and carry few risks has been expanded andcontributed to increasing the province’s shrimp output, he said.
The advanced techniquesinclude using nets to protect shrimp ponds from the sun, plastic sheets tocover pond beds and fans and pumps to generate oxygen for the water.
To help farmers andcompanies farm sustainably, the department and other relevant agencies willcarefully monitor the environment, control shrimp diseases and instructbreeders in Vietnamese good agricultural practices (VietGAP).
The province needs about10 billion shrimp broodstock this year but can only produce around half of thatnumber, according to the department.
To manage the quality ofbroodstock bought in other provinces and cities, the Animal Health andHusbandry Sub-department has set up inspection stations on main roads enteringthe province since early this year.
The sub-department stopsvehicles transporting the broodstock and takes samples for checking whennecessary.
Nguyen Thanh Duc, headof the sub-department, said it would continue, free of charge, to do tests fortwo diseases that affect fry for farmers and provide chlorine to disinfectponds against diseases.
The diseases are whitespot disease and acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease, also known as earlymortality syndrome.
The department hasinstructed breeders to release brackish water shrimp fry in accordance with therecommended schedule between December and May depending on conditions in eacharea.
The schedule ofreleasing shrimp fry in U Minh Thuong district, for instance, is betweenDecember and April and in Hon Dat district, between February and May.
The province hasestimated a total of 123,000ha of brackish water shrimp will be farmed undervarious models this year, according to the department.
Nguyen Van Hoa, whobegan farming shrimp in his rice field in An Minh district in early January,said he had harvested his rice crop early and started the shrimp crop early.
He had a bumper riceharvest and the field has plenty of rice stalks, offering good conditions forbreeding shrimp, he said.
“I hope the shrimp cropwill be successful. I can get a good price by harvesting the shrimp cropearly.”
The model of plantingrice in the rainy season and raising shrimp in the dry season in the same ricefield is sustainable and will enable the province to adapt to climate change.
The province has around80,000ha of shrimp-rice farms, the largest area in the delta.
The breeding of giantriver prawns under the shrimp-rice farming model fetched farmers large incomesin their recent harvest.
Many farmers in U MinhThuong district earned 30-35 million VND (1,280 – 1,500 USD) per hectare.
Kien Giang has successfullybred the spotted scat and black-tiger shrimp in the same pond in Hon Dat district’sSon Binh commune, offering farmers in coastal areas a new model.
In October 2017, the provincialDepartment of Science and Technology and the district got two local householdsto implement the model on 2ha each.
At first they released120,000 black tiger shrimp fry in the ponds. One and half months later theyreleased 1.6 tonnes of spotted scat fry.
The total productioncost was 280 million VND (12,000 USD), of which 64 million VND (2,750 USD) camein the form of a subsidy from the authorities.
The two householdsharvested six tonnes of spotted scats and 2.8 tonnes of black-tiger shrimpafter six months.
Le Van Vung, a member ofone of the households, said he had earned around 140 million VND (6,000 USD) insix months and still had shrimp and fish left in the pond.
Nguyen Van Phuong, Chairmanof the Son Binh Commune People’s Committee, said this model has a lowerproduction cost than others and is suitable for local farmers. The communewould expand it to more farmers, he said.
The model is friendly tothe environment because the fish eat all the residue food meant for the shrimpand alga in the pond, which helps prevent shrimp diseases.
Nguyen Xuan Niem, DeputyDirector of the provincial Department of Science and Technology, said thedepartment would transfer the technique to the Agriculture Extension Centre forit to expand the model to other coastal districts.
The department is alsoreproducing spotted scat artificially and will transfer the reproductiontechniques to farmers so that they can ensure a steady supply ofbroodstock.-VNS/VNA
VNA
