August 8, 2013
Vietnam launches responsible pangasius sourcing project
The Vietnam Cleaner Production Centre (VNCPC), Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) and other partners have officially launched an €2.4 million (US$3.2 million) initiative intended to set a Vietnamese sustainable pangasius supply chain.
The project, called Establishing a Sustainable Pangasius Supply Chain in Vietnam (SUPA) covers the entire pangasius product supply chain including hatcheries, fries, fish feed, processing, retail and export.
The initiative will be developed throughout four years and is partially funded by the EU, which finances €1.9 million (US$2.5 million) of the total. It started in April this year and is expected to finish in March 2017.
For it to be implemented, the VNCPC and VASEP has teamed up with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Austria and Vietnam, and also had the support of the Asian Institute of Technology in Vietnam (AITVN), universities, research institutes, pangasius farms, processing enterprises, among others.
Berenice Muraille, Development Counsellor of the Delegation of the EU to Vietnam said that the initiative has intention of promoting the competitiveness of the Vietnamese pangasius industry within a worldwide market.
In an official statement, she remarked that "through this project, EU directly supports the entire pangasius supply chain from hatcheries, feed producers and processers in Vietnam to traders and end-use customers, including those in the EU which is the largest market for Vietnam's pangasius export".
The initiative will have as its main goal to improve production, reducing negative environmental effects and lowering overheads by implementing a cleaner production and more efficient resources.
This will be achieved through the application of Resources Efficiency and Cleaner Production methodology (RE-CP) and market development and promotion. The project also encourages the application of sustainable standards as Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), Global GAP, et cetera, aiming at sustainable production.
When the initiative comes to its end, it is expected that 70% of pangasius producers and processers, 30% of hatcheries and feed producers will have applied cleaner and more efficient ways of production and as many as half of the firms will be in conditions of supplying the international market with sustainable, responsible, ethically-sourced products conforming to ASC regulations.
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