May 8, 2006

 

Vietnam to spend US$143 million in improving irrigation for aquaculture

 

 

Vietnam plans to spend VND2,276 billion (US$143 million) in 19 irrigation works as irrigation systems have failed to catch up with the burgeoning expansion in aquaculture, a Vietnamese official said in a report carried on the Vietnam Economic Times on Friday (May 5).

 

Deputy Director of Irrigation Department, Le Nam pointed out that present irrigation systems are not suitable for aquacultural production as they were designed for rice production, which required much less quantities of water. This has put a strain on irrigation systems.

 

Moreover, higher earnings from aquaculture has led to more rice growing areas switching to the more lucrative aquaculture sector, where earnings are five to six times that of rice production.

 

Le Nam also conceded that a lack of development in irrigation for aquaculture so far resulted from the absence of cooperation between irrigation and fishery sectors.

 

Also, the 1,967 reservoirs nationwide have yet to be utilised for aquacultural production, Le Nam pointed out.

 

Meanwhile, the aquaculture sector has been rapidly expanding. Production and export of seafood have sustained an average growth of 10 percent for the past few years, Vietnam's minister for fisheries Ta Quang Ngoc noted.

 

At the same time, this rapid growth rate requries state management methods to be toughened. Examples include the building and expanding of safe rearing areas and stricter examination of products, breeds, feeds and medicines. The minister also urged the establishing of aquaculture co-operatives and bar code systems to ensure traceability.

 

For its part, the ministry has established trade names for Vietnam's tra and basa fish and shrimps and also experimented with models of shrimp farming, among other projects.

 

The Fisheries Ministry also wanted to co-operate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to establish an irrigation programme serving the aquaculture sector.

 

It also proposed that the government provide more infrastructure for aquaculture activities and investing in biotechnology to produce new breeds.

 

Through these measures, the ministry hopes to continue achieving two digit growth rates even after 2010.

 

The ministry hopes for the aquaculture industry to increase raising areas to 1.1 million ha by 2010 from the present 980,000 ha, and increase output from 2.1 million tonnes from the 1.4 million tonnes at present.

 

Last year, aquacultural production rose 19.5 percent compared with 2004.

 

The ministry noted that shrimps, tra and basa fishes have been exported in great quantities, while other products and breeds have been of much lesser demand and were underdeveloped.