Kien Giang removes difficulties for industrial shrimp farming

Farmers in Tho Son commune, Hon Dat district harvest industrial shrimp.

Kien Giang is the province with the second largest brackish water shrimp farming area in the country. According to statistics from the Department of Fisheries of Kien Giang province, in 2023, the brackish water shrimp farming area of the province reached 136,241 hectares; of which, the industrial and semi-industrial farming area is about 4,341 hectares, ranking seventh among the provinces in the Mekong Delta.

The industrial shrimp farming model develops mainly in districts of the Long Xuyen quadrangle and some districts of the Upper U Minh region.

In recent times, the high-tech industrial shrimp farming model in Kien Giang province has developed strongly and achieved high efficiency. Many high-tech shrimp farming processes have been applied by people such as the two- and three-stage shrimp farming model with little water change or water circulation, with solutions to handle and limit environmental pollution, using electronic chips to monitor and control environmental factors.

Using automatic feeding machines, applying Biofloc technology, circulating biological filtration technology (Ras),... in farming models achieve high productivity, product quality ensures food safety and hygiene. With a farming density of 250-300 shrimp/ ^m2 , many farming households achieve productivity of up to 40-50 tons/ha, the average productivity of industrial and semi-industrial shrimp farming in the province ranges from 9-10 tons/ha.

The industrial shrimp farming model has helped many farming households from poverty to prosperity after a few successful shrimp crops. However, in reality, this model still faces many difficulties, risks and challenges.

Farmers in Hon Dat district release shrimp seeds for the 2024 crop.

Mr. Hua Hoang Vu, a shrimp farmer in Binh Tri commune, Kien Luong district, said: “One of the current shortcomings is that the farming area planning is not synchronous, and the irrigation infrastructure does not meet the requirements. Most farming areas do not have separate water supply and drainage channels. When a household has an epidemic, it can easily spread the disease. The investment cost for an industrial shrimp pond is hundreds of millions of dong, and if an epidemic occurs, the economic loss is huge.”

Mr. Tran Minh Tam, a shrimp farmer in Thuan Yen commune, Ha Tien city, commented that in recent years, industrial shrimp farming has become increasingly difficult, in addition to objective reasons such as weather conditions affecting production, poor quality shrimp seeds, leading to ineffective farming results.

"To limit risks, the first thing the province must do is to more strictly control the issue of imported shrimp seeds, because currently our province can only proactively source 30% of shrimp seeds for people's farming needs. Seeds are the most important factor in the industrial shrimp farming process, poor quality seeds are the cause of crop failure," said Mr. Tran Minh Tam.

Farmers in Thuan Yen commune, Ha Tien city visit shrimp farms.

Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Kien Giang province, Quang Trong Thao, said that in order to bring profits to people to sustainably develop industrial shrimp farming, the Department closely coordinates with localities to review and carefully study policies, creating conditions for farming households and businesses to access preferential investment policies to expand the scale of industrial shrimp production; strongly develop brackish water shrimp farming models according to VietGAP standards and other international standards (GlobalGAP, BAP, ASC, ...) according to export market requirements; use barcodes and codes to trace the origin of products and brackish water shrimp farming areas.

Step by step build brand, register trademarks, geographical indications for typical farmed products in each region in Kien Giang province. Complete the proactive water regulation sewer system in concentrated areas to serve production, especially serving shrimp farming models combined with rice cultivation...

Article and photos: THUY TRANG

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