Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung asked the ministries and localities to quickly map out a ‘tra’ and ‘ba sa’ farming and consumption plan to make the catfish the nation’s key export item in the coming time.
The request was made at the PM meeting with official s from the ministries of agriculture and rural development, industry and trade, finance, the State Bank of Vietnam, and the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers in Mekong Delta An Giang province March 18.
The PM asked the plan to be completed within 10 days, noting that ‘tra’ and ‘ba sa’ are important to the national economy, contributing 2 per cent of the GDP and 32 per cent of seafood export revenue.
The PM asked relevant ministries for developing catfish farming and processing into a large-scale industry which shall ensure both international standards and environmental protection requirements.
The PM also assigned the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to establish a steering board to deal with problems that may arise from the farming and consumption activities.
Ministry officials and local representatives shared the view that the catfish farming is developing in a spontaneous manner and the linkage between producers and consumers remain absent, sparking unhealthy competitions.
They proposed that breeders should be instructed to follow strict standards regarding food hygiene, breed, feed, and waste water treatment while State management agencies should improve their market forecasting capacity and help breeders in promoting their products and calling for investment.
Catfish farming, using around 6,000 hectares of water surface, equivalent to 1 per cent of shrimp farms, has generated jobs for thousands of local laborers and greatly supported economic structure shift and poverty reduction in the Mekong Delta.
Concentrating in 10 Mekong Delta provinces, catfish farms produced a total output of 1.1 million tons a year, of which 630,000 tons were exported to 130 countries for over US$1.4 billion in 2008.
The country is now home to 100 catfish processing plants. (Local sources)
Vietnamese
