June 16, 2008

Vietnam shrimp output to reduce on disease outbreaks

Vietnam's shrimp ouput this year will fall due to production cuts in breeding farms and disease outbreaks, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said.

Currently, around 420,000 hectares in the southern provinces of Tien Giang, Ben Tre, Tra Vinh and Soc Trang are used as shrimp farms, 80,000 hectares fewer than last year.

Tra Vinh's 13,600 hectares of shrimp farms have been infected with disease, the department said.

In Kien Giang province, the situation is similar with 43,000 hectares of shrimp ponds afflicted.

Large numbers of shrimp continue to die every day because of diseases such as the white-dot disease.

Trinh Tai Mon, deputy head of MARD in Vinh Thuan, said the disease had appeared in all districts, creating heavy losses to farmers.

Quang Ngai's aquaculture department official said untreated waste water from the agriculture and industry sectors had contaminated the water used in shrimp breeding.

The lack of a coordinated zoning plan for shrimp breeding caused the virus to spread quickly in Vietnam, officials said.

Quang Nam's Fisheries Extension and Aquaculture Breeds Development Centre recommends that breeders treat their water before discharging it into the environment.