May 23, 2012

Vietnam's fisheries set for farm increase

The Vietnamese fisheries sector will increase its fish farms to 1.2 million hectares, with rising productions of up to 4.5 million tonnes a year and an annual average growth rate of 5.2% by 2020.

The plan was announced at a conference on development plans for aquaculture for 2020, with a vision to 2030", held by the General Department of Fisheries, in Hanoi on May 18, reports the Communist Party of Vietnam

The sector also set a target of earning an annual export revenue of between seven to US$7.5 billion, a rise of almost 7.5% annually, and will employ about 3.5 million workers.

Nguyen Thanh Tung, Head of Viet Nam's Institute of Fisheries Economics and Planning, said that besides the approved projects, another additional 12 projects will be put in place to reach the set targets.

He said that it is necessary to look at other ways of using land and water, and examine policies on tax, credit and investment for the sector, while stepping up training programmes and improving the sectors infrastructure and technology. He added that applying Vietnam's Good Agricultural Practices Standard was also necessary.

Although Viet Nam's fisheries sector has a high growth rate, the sector is not efficient enough and there remain a lot of shortcomings and risks, as sits infrastructure and technology lacks investment.