• More than 20 years of sustainable rice-shrimp model
  • Orientation for development of OCOP rice - shrimp
  • Expectations for rice - shrimp crop
  • The area planted for rice-shrimp crop far exceeds the plan.

Increase the value of shrimp and rice

According to statistics, the whole province currently has about 93,000 hectares of rice-shrimp cultivation. From the initial pilot models, up to now, the whole province of Ca Mau has built hundreds of hectares of "fragrant rice - clean shrimp" production according to domestic and foreign standards: BAP, ASC, GlobalGAP...

Pioneers in this field include a number of cooperatives such as Tri Luc Rice - Shrimp Cooperative (Tri Phai commune), Ba Dinh General Agricultural Cooperative (Vinh Loc commune), Bac Lieu Fragrant Rice - Clean Shrimp Cooperative Union (Hoa Binh commune)... helping shrimp from rice fields have more support to "swim out to the big ocean" and enter demanding import markets.

Farmers in the transition area of Vinh Loc commune strongly develop the rice-shrimp model.

At the same time, the production of high-quality rice associated with building brands, packaging, designs... according to the orientation of the "One Commune One Product" (OCOP) Program has received systematic investment. In addition to traditional rice varieties chosen by farmers for rice cultivation on shrimp land such as: OM, Dai Thom, BL9..., currently in many transition areas, people focus on planting high-quality fragrant rice varieties such as ST24, ST25 and applying clean, organic farming processes, ensuring no use of toxic chemicals.

Mr. Nguyen Van Dien (Bien Bach commune) shared: “Since applying the rice-shrimp rotation model, the economic life of the people has clearly improved. Previously, if we only grew rice, if the rice failed, we would be left with nothing, but now with the addition of shrimp, farmers have a very stable income. In particular, in recent years, people in the transition area have also developed a model of clean rice and clean shrimp cultivation, thereby helping to increase the value of both products and contributing to the supply of quality products to the market, ensuring the health of consumers.”

Farmers in the transition area of Vinh Loc commune have a big hit growing giant freshwater prawns intercropped in rice fields.

According to people in the conversion area, shrimp rotation or shrimp intercropping in rice fields brings profits of 50-100 million VND/ha, contributing to a total income of about 100-130 million VND/ha of rice - shrimp. Thanks to the combined rice - shrimp model, the economic life of people in the area has developed much more than before.

Building a chain of links

Striving to achieve a growth rate of 5.5% in Region I (fisheries - agriculture - forestry) in 2025, contributing to the province's GRDP growth of 8% or more in 2025 and ensuring double-digit growth in the following years, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee issued a Plan to implement breakthrough development in the shrimp, crab and rice industries.

To complete the assigned targets, the provincial agricultural sector and localities have been mobilizing the participation of the entire political system, businesses, cooperatives and people; promoting regional linkages and chain linkages in production and consumption of products. At the same time, reducing production costs right from the beginning of the season, stabilizing output and not worrying about prices.

Mr. Nong Van Thach, Director of Ba Dinh Agricultural Cooperative, commented: “The development orientation according to the rice - shrimp model not only opens up a new direction for the cooperative, but also solves the output problem for members. Because, when the output is accompanied by quality and is known by the market, it will help people have a consumption address right from the beginning of the season, not having to suffer from the situation of "good harvest, low price". Therefore, members are increasingly enthusiastic and join hands, contributing with the cooperative to build the brand "fragrant rice - clean shrimp". From there, creating chains of links between producers and businesses, cooperatives to ensure stable output and added value for products".

Farmers in the transitional area of Phong Thanh commune harvest rice.

The benefits are like that, but in reality, currently in many localities, there is a situation where some households are not as "keen" on rice as when they first started implementing the model, but have completely switched to shrimp farming. From there, it leads to the risk of breaking the production chain, leading to many unnecessary consequences.

Reality has proven that if rice cultivation is abandoned, shrimp farming will also grow slowly, have a high loss rate, and profits will decrease significantly compared to rice-shrimp rotation. Mr. Luu Hoang Ly, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment, said: “Rice-shrimp is a combined economic model, they support each other in the production chain. Therefore, breaking the planning of the conversion area will not bring the economic benefits that people expect, but on the contrary, it will lead to many consequences, reduce economic benefits and break the chain of links in the "favorable" development orientation of the whole region".

With the great benefits it brings, the rice-shrimp farming model is the right direction and needs to be promoted. Building the brand of "fragrant rice - clean shrimp" is a long process, requiring the cooperation of all levels of government, organizations, businesses and people.

Nguyen Linh

Source: https://baocamau.vn/lua-thom-tom-sach-huong-phat-trien-ben-vung-kinh-te-nong-nghiep-a121136.html