The social and environmental impacts ofpangasius farming should be taken into account in developing asustainable model for the Mekong Delta, a seminar heard last week.
Organised by the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), theseminar held in HCM City highlighted features of such a model.Jan Kranghand, senior Department Manager of the METRO Group BuyingInternational, said at the seminar that a proper model would coverhatchery selection, farming and harvesting.For instance, farmers should choose parent fish that are over threeyears old. The average pond size should be 8,000sq.m and averagedensity about 35-40 fish per square metre. The best time for harvestingis 6-7 months.Pangasius farming is one of the fattest growing types of aquaculture in the world.The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers said thecountry has more than 9,000 ha for breeding pangasius with annualproduction increasingly by 20 percent to 30 percent over the last fewyears. The main production areas of pangasius in Vietnam currently the MekongDelta cities and provinces of An Giang, Can Tho, Dong Thap, Vinh Long,Soc Trang and Hau Giang.According to the website www.worldpangasius.com , in seven months oflast year, exports of the fish from Vietnam to the European Unioncountries accounted for 39.4 percent of the total output, Russia, 14.1percent, Ukraine 8.7 percent, other ASEAN nations, 6.1 percent and theUnited States 5.7 percent.Nguyen Van Hao of the Aquaculture Research Institute under the Ministryof Agriculture and Rural Development said at the seminar that pangasiusfarm size in the Mekong Delta was small, and typical operated andmanaged by farming households.Seventy-two percent of the farms were less than five hectare, he said,adding 76 percent of the farms yielded 300 tonnes per hectare.It was very hard to monitor and manage the quality of feed, water environment and the final product, he said. Buyers and retailers requested local farmers to apply high standardsand quality controls, but this posed a big investment challenge whenthe selling prices were quite low, he added.He also stressed the need for an effective surveillance system capableof detecting disease outbreaks in a timely and accurate manner./.
