Soc Trang Aquaculture: Improvements from Good Irrigation System

After Soc Trang Province invested VND344 billion (US$21.5 million) in the past five years, the fish farming area has quickly increased to 55,000 hectares. Notably, the number of large-scaled farms is also developed strongly. A favourable irrigation system and good rural transport system have facilitated the cargo transportation as well as the livelihood of the local residents. Consequently, many projects in Soc Trang Province have are operating very well, such as Tra Nien I, Tra Nien II, Vinh Hiep shrimp-rice project and Vinh Tan – Vinh Phuoc shrimp-rice project. The good irrigation system has also helped raise aquaculture output in the province year after year. Nowadays, Soc Trang catches on average 50,000 tonnes of aquatic products, including 40,000 tonnes of shrimp. In 2005, the southern province earned nearly US$300 million from aquatic export and hoped to bag US$360 million in 2006, including US$345 from frozen shrimp.

 

According to Mr. Pham Minh Tien, Director of Soc Trang Fisheries Department, to ensure the sustainable development of aquaculture, the fisheries sector will check the overall development plan, focus on instructing the production in all three salt-water, brackish and freshwater areas, and use up all available areas. To guarantee the quality of aquatic products, the fisheries sector will increase the propaganda for the observance of fisheries laws; strictly punish those continuing banned operations; tightly manage imported breeding species sources, fish feed production and trading units, aquatic purchasing and processing units to ensure food safety and hygiene; issue regulations to manage safety shrimp breeding areas and units, instruct enterprises and farms to respect the organic fish breeding regulations provided by the Ministry of Fisheries.

 

As regards the consumption market, the sector will urge investors and project management units to speed up the implementation of fisheries investment projects; encourage companies to continue carrying out the Prime Minister's Decision 80 on selling aquatic products, to cooperate with farmers to build and manage organic shrimp farms to guarantee sufficient quality materials for the export processing industry.

 

The Soc Trang Department of Fisheries will create favourable conditions to encourage all economic sectors to invest in the province, especially in aquaculture. The department will mobilise all available resources for a programme to develop 22 aquaculture projects, which are expected to receive VND38 billion (US$2.38 million) from the State Budget, for a programme to develop aquatic breeds, for projects to develop aquatic breeding centre and for projects to build freshwater aquatic breeding farms.