The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) recenty held a workshop on how to develop tuna value chain in the central coast province of Khanh Hoa as the ministry said the whole chain of tuna production would increase added value of the products and improve the living standards of fishermen, according to the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Online Newspaper.

Tuna was sold to freezer factories at 73,000 VND per kilogramme in the Phu Yen province while tuna processed as Sashimi had been exported to Japan at 195,000 VND per kilogramme, conference participants said.

Fishermen often do not pay attention to investing in processing technology because they can easily sell their tuna by total weight to local buyers without strict regulations related to quality control, health/sanitary guarantees as required in the overseas markets.

Creating whole chain of fish production is a matter of concern in Vietnam . It is said that while there are many drawbacks in exploiting tuna such as planning, exploitation technology, preservation and marketing, there can develop effective whole chain of tuna production.

"The value chain can’t be cut off. It must be managed by the MARD and provincial people’s committees so that it can operate smoothly,” said Vu Dinh Dap, Chairman of Vietnam Tuna Association.

The country now has more than 3,500 tuna fishing ships with 35,000 labourers. According to Minister of MARD Cao Duc Phat, in order to benefit from the value chain, Vietnam has to clarify matters like what kind of ship would be good for catching tuna or what fishing techniques need to be used. And tuna business needs to take fishermen’s interests as their core goal.

Minister Phat said by providing fishermen with better equipment and technology would help them improve their living standards.

To produce tuna in the value chain, the development of a modern fishing fleet, combined with marketing strategy and the construction of logistic fisheries services should be implemented altogether, added Phat.-VNA