Bac Lieu (VNA) – Thesouthern coastal province of Bac Lieu has made shrimp farming one of the fivepillars for local socio-economic development with the goal of raising shrimpexport revenue to 1 billion USD by 2025.

The province sets the target basedon its natural advantages, including 56km of coast and three big river mouthsand three eco-systems of salt, brackish and fresh water. Nearly half of the province’snatural area (257,000 sq. km) can be used for shrimp breeding. Bac Lieu currentlyproduces 115,800 tonnes of shrimp a year, ranking third in the country.

Towards the goal, the provincialadministration has issued resolutions and policies to stimulate the growth ofthis spearhead industry. The Government’s approval of the establishment of ahi-tech shrimp farming zone in Bac Lieu provides another important conditionfor the province to become a national shrimp farming centre.

Secretary of the provincialParty Committee Nguyen Quang Duong said the province is accelerating therestructuring of agriculture in the direction of industrialization and modernization,promoting investment in and the application of scientific-technologicaladvances, especially bio-technology, to raise agricultural productivity, quality,efficiency and competitiveness, and strengthening the linkage between farming,processing and marketing.

As a result of those policies,10 companies and 300 households in Bac Lieu have applied technology in shrimpfarming on a total area of 1,600 ha, which produce from 25-50 tonnes ofproducts each farming season and high profit of between 500-700 million VND (around21,500 – 30,000 USD) per ha per season.

Bac Lieu is leading the MekongDelta and the country as well in producing high-quality shrimp fry with anoutput of 25 billion fry a year, accounting for more than half of the MekongDelta’s output and one quarter of the country’s.

The province is also a hub ofshrimp processing, ranking third in the country in total design capacity oflocal factories.  

Bac Lieu has been chosen by theMinistry of Agriculture and Rural Development to develop shrimp farming inaccordance with criteria set by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).

A shrimp farm of the Viet-UcSeafood Corporation in the province has become the first in Vietnam to meet OIE-recommendedstandards set for a disease-free shrimp breeding facility.

Experts said this is a big stepforward for the shrimp industry, giving Vietnam’s shrimp the “gold ticket” toenter markets with strict import requirements in the world.   

Chairman of the provincial People’sCommittee Duong Thanh Trung said the province will continue to expand the areaof shrimp farming following international standards such as Natuland,GlobalGAP, ASC and BAP, thus enhancing local shrimp products’ value andachieving sustainable development.

 Under the province’s shrimp farming developmentplan, the area of shrimp farming will be expanded by an average 0.38 percent ayear during 2021-2025 to 141,000 ha, including nine hi-tech farming zones.  

The annual shrimp output fromfarming will increase to an estimated 251,000 tonnes. In addition, seafoodcatches are projected at 125,000 tonnes.

The industry and tradedepartment forecast that shrimp export will earn the province 606 million USDthis year, up 14 percent from 2017.-VNA