March 18, 2008

Vietnam mulls on compensating seafood farmers for February cold spell

Vietnam's government opened the possibility of compensating seafood farmers who lost money in February cold snap.

The Aquaculture Department proposed to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to make available some VND36 billion (US$2.25 million) to aid farmers in replenishing stocks.

The department reported that the cold spell killed more than 1,000 tonnes of fry and 23 million adult fish weighing some 4,360 tonnes and worth more than VND72 billion (US$4.5 million) in the North.

Deputy minister Nguyen Viet Thang said the fisheries industry plans to re-stock northern farms with fry and shrimp from the South particularly from the Mekong Delta region, where aquaculture farms had a good year.

Mekong Delta region reported output of 465,000 tonnes for the first two months of the year, an increase of 22 percent on-year.

Average earnings in Vietnam's aquaculture farms reached around VND500,000-VND600,000 (US$32-US$40) per day.