Farmers harvest clams in Tien Giang province’s Go Cong Dong district. (Photo: VNA) The Mekong Delta province normally faces saltwater intrusion from the seathrough rivers in the dry season which affects agricultural production and thelives of locals.
To cope with saltwater intrusion, the province has developed brackish and saltwateraquaculture in coastal areas to stabilise the lives of locals and adapt toclimate change.
The province’s coastal districts of Go Cong Dong, Go Cong Tay and Tan Phu Dong havebred nearly 11,000ha of brackish and saltwater aquaculture to serve domesticconsumption and exports so far this year.
The districts have harvested nearly 42,000 tonnes of seafood, mostlyblack-tiger shrimp, white-legged shrimp and clams.
Bui Thai Son, chairman of the Tan Phu Dong district People’s Committee, said TanPhu Dong is located downstream from the Tien River and borders the sea, andthese are favourable conditions for the district to develop brackish andsaltwater aquaculture sustainably.
The district has zoned 5,000ha for aquaculture in coastal areas, accounting fornearly 40% of its total farming area, he said.
It has provided intensive farming techniques for farmers and encouraged them toswitch from outdated traditional breeding models to those that use advancedtechniques that adapt to climate change, are environmental friendly and havehigh profits, he said.
The advanced breeding models include high-tech industrial shrimp farming,intensive shrimp farming, shrimp-rice farming and shrimp-crab-fish farming.
Farmers in the district have bred two aquaculture crops with a combined area of7,280ha so far this year, harvesting more than 26,000 tonnes of seafood, upnearly 9,500 tonnes year-on-year, according to the district’s Bureau ofAgriculture and Rural Development.
Black tiger shrimp, white-legged shrimp, clams and other bivalve molluscs arethe district’s key seafood products.
Pham Van Le has a 3ha shrimp farm in Tan Phu Dong’s Phu Thanh commune andbreeds three crops of white-legged shrimp a year.
Each crop takes about 100 days.
He harvests a total of 24 tonnes of white-legged shrimp a year and earns aprofit of 1-1.2 billion VND (40,000-48,000 USD), he said.
In Go Cong Dong district, farmers have bred black tiger shrimp and white-leggedshrimp on nearly 850ha so far this year, according to the district’s Bureau ofAgriculture and Rural Development.
The district has 2,200ha of clam farming area in Tan Thanh commune. The clamfarming area has developed eco-tourism services, helping to improve the incomeof farmers.
Farmers in Go Cong Dong have harvested nearly 15,000 tonnes of shrimp and clamsso far this year.
To help the coastal districts promote their advantages and strengths indeveloping brackish and saltwater aquaculture, the provincial Department ofAgriculture and Rural Development has provided advanced techniques for them andencouraged farmers to breed shrimp under hi-tech farming methods, such astwo-stage industrial shrimp farming.
Two-stage industrial shrimp farming uses super intensive farming, has highyields, is environmental friendly and adapts to climate change.
The province has nearly 300ha of hi-tech shrimp farming areas that offer a highyield of 40-60 tonnes per hectare a crop, about 10 times higher thantraditional breeding techniques, according to the department./.
VNA
