May 14, 2008

Vietnam's Ca Mau increases production of disease-free breeder shrimps

Vietnam's Ca Mau province, the largest shrimp breeding area in the south, is increasing its production of disease-free breeder shrimp to supply local farmers.

Ngo Hoang Son, head of Ca Mau Province's Aquatic Animal Health Bureau, said the boost in production reduced the outbreak of shrimp disease.

Currently, the province has 250,000 hectares of shrimp and breeds more than 12 billion shrimp a year.

The province's 842 breeder shrimp farms supply about 6 billion breeder shrimp for local farmers a year, meeting only 50 percent of the needed volume.

Ca Mau farmers have to buy from other provinces that often are supplying poor quality breeder.

In other provinces, only 30-40 percent of the shrimp can survive disease-free in the new environment.

Son said the province targets to produce 6 billion to 7 billion disease-free breeder shrimp a year.

Furthermore, Ca Mau also targets to supply 90 percent of breeder shrimp for farmers in the future.

The provincial government has provided incentives for farms and centres, including tax reductions, preferential loans and new farming technology to encourage production of disease-free breeder shrimp.