Dry village "red eyes" looking for fish

The dried village lacks raw materials, only a few processing facilities remain, waiting for the new dried season. Photo: MINH HIEN

Out of raw materials

Mr. Tran Van Nam - owner of a long-standing processing facility in Khanh Binh commune sighed: "Currently, the dried fish village has workers but no raw fish to process. This season, the drying yard is so empty, it's so sad..." Previously, his facility purchased tons of raw fish every day, now it's less than 1/3. Since the beginning of the year, the price of striped snakehead fish has skyrocketed from 45,000 - 55,000 VND/kg to 70,000 - 90,000 VND/kg, at times reaching 110,000 VND/kg. The price of finished dried fish has also increased from 280,000 VND/kg to more than 350,000 VND/kg, causing slow consumption and inventory.

Mr. Truong Chi Thong - Head of the Economic Department of Khanh Binh Commune said that the whole commune currently has about 20 dried fish processing facilities in operation. “The biggest difficulty now is the lack of input materials. Previously, people could buy striped snakehead fish from Thailand or Lang Bien (Dong Thap). Now, the amount of fish imported from Thailand is small, the price has increased sharply, causing production costs to increase. Meanwhile, the output is not stable, making the processing facilities even more difficult,” Mr. Thong shared.

Not only An Giang , dried fish villages in Tam Nong (Dong Thap) and even Ca Mau are also "looking for fish with red eyes". The once bustling dried fish processing villages now only have a few sparse drying racks in the middle of the vast yard; workers have to temporarily put their work aside, waiting for the new fish season. The lack of raw fish not only makes the dried snakehead fish processing facilities suffer but also has consequences for the entire processing village. According to statistics, the area of raised snakehead fish farming in Lang Bien commune has decreased by more than 70% compared to 2020. Once the main supplier of raw materials for An Giang dried fish villages, Lang Bien is now almost "frozen", causing many processing facilities in Khanh Binh, Vinh Xuong, Vinh Hoi Dong... to fall into a situation of "starvation of raw materials".

Another reason is the habit of depending on imported fish from Thailand. Thai gourami has firm, fatty meat, and is rich in fat, so many establishments gradually ignore domestic sources. When the imported fish source is interrupted, they do not have time to find alternative inputs.

People raise snakehead fish for dried processing. Photo: MINH HIEN

Not small consequences

Due to the lack of raw materials, many facilities have been forced to stop operations, and workers have temporarily lost their jobs. Ms. Pham Thi Loan - a worker at a dried fish production facility in Vinh Hoi Dong confided: "Before, I worked all year round, earning 5-7 million VND per month. Now that I have a long break, my income is gone and my living expenses are still increasing." Khanh Binh, Vinh Xuong, Vinh Hoi Dong, and Tan An communes have hundreds of idle agricultural workers who make a living from drying. The job not only creates a livelihood but also contributes to maintaining social security in the border area. If the shortage of raw materials continues, the dried fish service chain such as transportation, drying, packaging, and fish traders will also be affected.

Faced with that reality, the local government is discussing solutions to revive the “lifeblood” of the dry village. In the immediate future, the locality with the dry village will review the difficulties of each facility to find a way to support. Mr. Bui Thai Hoang - Chairman of the People's Committee of Vinh Xuong commune said: "The commune is coordinating with the agricultural sector and related units to find alternative sources of raw materials, support processing facilities to access loans, and strengthen the connection between farming households and processing facilities."

In the long term, the agricultural sector plans to plan concentrated striped snakehead fish farming areas, apply breeding techniques, reduce losses, and encourage farmers to return to farming. At the same time, promote the "4-house" linkage model (State - scientist - business - farmer) to stabilize purchasing prices. In addition, many processing facilities are looking to diversify products such as: Processing dried yellow catfish, dried snakehead fish, dried tilapia. All products are packaged and vacuum-sealed for sale through e-commerce platforms, initially bringing positive signals.

Amidst the hardship, dried fish processing facilities still believe that there will be a new dry season, and their dried fish villages will once again be filled with voices and laughter in the sun and wind of the Hau and Tien rivers like before.

MINH HIEN

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/lang-kho-do-mat-tim-ca-a465937.html