Vietnam aids in boosting Venezuelan shrimp output

Vietnam kicks off a 15-day tour to inspect aquaculture production units, specifically shrimp, located in the states of Trujillo and Falcon, Venezuela.

The main objective of the governments of Venezuela and Vietnam is to continue advancing in the edification and development of Venezuelan shrimp production.

This visit is the second after the one carried out by Vietnamese delegates back in 2009, while visiting two production units. Technicians from Venezuela and Vietnam inspected the farm Granja Camaronera Arapuey, located south of the lake of Maracaibo, in the state of Trujillo.

This farm possesses more than 65 pools over a surface area of approximately 160 hectares. The state seeks to create a socialist unit of production there for the breeding of shrimp.

Experts from both countries also visited the farm Complejo Salinero Las Cumaraguas, in the state of Falcon. Evaluations of aquaculture installations were made, taking advantage of the Vietnamese experience in the area.

According to the president of the Socialist Fisheries and Aquaculture Institute (INSOPESCA), Gilberto Gimenez, two projects will be carried out to salvage abandoned farms, in which people of local communities will participate.

''We are looking for a knowledge transfer towards depressed communities, to free them from a scheme of exploitation, giving them the ability to obtain their own sustenance in a dignified manner,'' Gimenez said.

He also stressed the need to mass produce shrimp consumption in Venezuela. "Years ago, shrimp was in the hands of the private sector that directed production to export almost in its entirety, converting it in a food beyond the reach of the Venezuelan people. We, as a government, have the mission to recover these abandoned farms and get them to produce under a socialist and sustainable model that does not affect nature,'' Gimenez said.