The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has submitted to the Prime Minister a national action plan for the development of the shrimp industry through 2025.
The plan, according to the ministry’s D-Fish, looks to turn the shrimp industry into a key economic sector with sustainable development that is adaptable to climate change and friendly to the environment.
To reach the targets, the ministry will review and upgrade irrigation infrastructures, key traffic and the availability of electricity in shrimp farming regions, based on modern industrial models; and re-organise small production facilities to become cooperatives for creating larger regions that will connect with enterprises supplying input materials and consuming products within the value chain. The ministry will research and ensure that before 2025 the industry will offer a variety of shrimp that grow quickly and are free of diseases. It will also research the technology of shrimp feed production to actively produce this product at home.
In addtion, the industry will apply scientific and technical advances and modern management measures to shrimp production regions, and modern technologies for processing shrimp to increase the volume of value-added products meeting food hygiene and safety standards following importing countries’s demand.
According to the action plan, the domestic shrimp industry is expected to gain US$4.5-5 billion in export value and record an annual average growth of 9.5-12 per cent in 2017-20. In 2021-25, a hi-tech shrimp industry and large-scale eco-shrimp farming areas will be developed. The shrimp industry expects to reach the goals of $10 billion in export value and an average growth of 12-14 per cent per year.
The total area brackish water shrimp farming is estimated to reach 710,000ha, with total output of 850,000 tonnes of shrimp during 2017-20, and expand to 750,000ha and 1.1 million tonnes of output in the period from 2020-25. At the same time, it will build and develop ecological shrimp areas with large scales in the Cửu Long Delta region, concentrated in Cà Mau, Kiên Giang, Bạc Liêu, Sóc Trăng and Trà Vinh provinces.
Tiger prawn organic farming (shrimp-forest and shrimp-rice) will be built in Cà Mau Province. Giant fresh water prawns will be farmed in Đồng Tháp, An Giang, Cà Mau, Kiên Giang, Sóc Trăng, Bạc Liêu, Trà Vinh and Bến Tre provinces. Further, lobsters will be cultured in Khánh Hòa, Phú Yên and Bình Định provinces.
Phuong Anh
