January 8, 2007

Catfish farmers thrive in Vietnam's Can Tho City

An island district in Mekong Delta's Can Tho City in Vietnam is now a haven for catfish farmers.

Farmers raising tra in Tan Lap Commune's Tan Loc islet reportedly make a profit of VND3 billion to VND4 billion (US$200,000 to US$250,000) a year.

Local community head Pham Van My, attributed the good fortune in the continued rise in catfish prices on the onset of 2006. Catfish has reached US$0.95 per kilogramme this year compared to US$0.74 in 2005. Each kilogram yields a profit of US$0.31.

Situated in the middle of the Hau River, Tan Loc islet was severed from surrounding land areas, thus generating clean water that has increased production of aquaculture particularly in catfish.

Pham Van Phuong is one of the most successful tra farmers in Tan Loc. He has just sold 4,000 tonnes of catfish in 2006 and now owns nine catfish ponds that he commenced ten years ago.

Another pioneer in the island's catfish farming is Ut Ba who is reportedly earning more than US$60,000 every two months.

Ba said catfish farmers in the island have bought luxury vehicles as a lucrative result from catfish production. Ironically, he said the island does not have any paved roads to drive their expensive cars but the island still boasts of billionaires who earned their fortune from tra and ba sa.