Need to build a brand for Lai Chau cold water fish

Recently, the price of sturgeon in the market has dropped sharply, causing difficulties for hundreds of sturgeon farming households in Lai Chau. The cause was determined to be the massive import of sturgeon into the domestic market; but the underlying cause of farmers “losing right at home” lies in the issue of branding.

Coldwater fish farmers are losing at home because of branding issues.

With the current low price of sturgeon, most small-scale coldwater fish farmers and some cooperatives do not have a closed farming process and cannot build a stable supply chain, so they are prone to losses and have difficulty recovering production. Meanwhile, some coldwater fish farmers are still maintaining efficiency thanks to a complete supply chain from breeds, food to restaurants and have built a brand in advance.

Duong Yen Cooperative (Phong Tho Commune) is an example. Thanks to developing a restaurant that consumes its products and creating products from salmon that are OCOP certified, the cooperative still ensures stable profits and revenue despite market fluctuations.

Mr. Hoang Dang Binh, Chairman of Duong Yen Cooperative, said: "There are times when we cannot raise enough to meet market demand. We have considered purchasing or underwriting some small-scale farmers; however, because their processes and farming methods do not guarantee quality, we cannot buy. We must ensure the quality of the goods."

Currently, the cooperative still achieves a revenue of 6-7 billion VND/year and creates stable jobs for 10 workers, with an income of about 7 million VND/month.

Very few cold water fish farms in Lai Chau have a closed process from breed to market.

Similarly, Song Nhi Sa Pa Trade and Tourism One Member Limited Liability Company has a cold-water fish farm in Son Binh Commune (Lai Chau). Thanks to being certified as an egg hatchery and seed production facility along with a large chain of stores, the company's cold-water fish output is always guaranteed.

Mr. Tran Trung Hung, Director of the company shared: “Our facility is certified by VietGAP; the fish farming output in Lai Chau is about 200 tons. We apply water treatment technology to ensure standards, select good breeds; feed is linked with the production unit, the farming process is strictly controlled to avoid risks and produce good quality fish."

Currently, the biggest difficulty for coldwater fish farming in general and in Lai Chau in particular is the mechanism and policies to support facilities in implementing the process to build a brand. From not recognizing hybrid sturgeon breeds to certification procedures for breeds, transportation procedures... all cause many difficulties for farmers.

Building a collective brand, making it convenient for people to register a brand and access support.

Mr. Hung suggested that there should be a more open mechanism; communes with advantages in cold-water fish farming should arrange technical support staff and provide guidance so that people can follow the correct process and legal procedures. At the same time, cooperatives should be established to build collective brands, making it convenient for people to register brands and access support.

The government also needs to have a specific mechanism to support the application of science and technology and breed production. Farmers also need to recalculate costs and profits, aiming at a more affordable consumer market so that more people can access the products.

Up to now, cold water fish farming in Lai Chau is concentrated in 12 communes; mostly sturgeon farming. The province has also incorporated a number of support policies: implementing experimental production projects for commercial sturgeon and caviar on the Chat reservoir; a commercial sturgeon farming model following VietGAP procedures.

Currently, Lai Chau has only 2 establishments supported to develop OCOP products and 3 establishments granted VietGAP certification for coldwater fish products. Although the province has promoted trade, called for and attracted investment in the seafood processing sector, to date no organization or individual has implemented the construction of seafood processing factories in the area.

Cold water fish in Lai Chau are raised on a small scale, spontaneously without applying modern technology, and have not yet created concentrated commodity products.

In reality, the development of cold water fish farming in Lai Chau is still spontaneous; the production model is small and fragmented, not applying modern technology; the infrastructure is still limited. Therefore, it has not created concentrated commodity products, lacks linkage in production and consumption, so the work of supporting the production, processing and consumption of cold water fish is still limited.

To join hands in building a brand for Lai Chau cold water fish, according to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Dong - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment, first of all, organizations and individuals raising fish need to proactively implement farming regulations according to the guidance of the management agency, creating a premise for building a brand; at the same time, explore, learn, and research brand criteria for the product.

In its management role, the Department will perform the following tasks: Guiding and granting codes for aquaculture facilities; certifying facilities that meet aquaculture conditions; certifying facilities that meet food safety conditions; supporting the building of OCOP product brands; advising on support policies to create a premise for organizations and individuals to build brands for cold-water fish products.

It is necessary to balance production costs and market prices to expand consumer base.

In the coming time, the Department hopes that the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment will direct its affiliated units to research and select facilities with sufficient capacity to produce parent sturgeon breeds to supply organizations and individuals in need in order to resolve current difficulties in parent breed sources.

Along with that, the farming facilities need to select quality breeds with clear origin; ensure farming conditions and comply with legal regulations when participating in cold water fish farming; apply comprehensive disease prevention and treatment measures to reduce loss; optimize the feed ration by stage to reduce costs and lower the price of commercial fish. At the same time, it is necessary to balance production costs and market prices to avoid prolonging the farming time when the fish are ready to be harvested.

TRAN TUAN - THAI THINH

Source: https://nhandan.vn/can-xay-dung-thuong-hieu-cho-ca-nuoc-lanh-lai-chau-post919183.html