Fishery is one of the economic sectors which offers high export turnover with an annual average growth of 18 percent. However, this sector faces many challenges from the application of international regulations. It is necessary to set up a national action plan on development and sustainable growth with the aim of creating sustainable links among member firms to support seafood companies to compete.
Improper perception in the value chain
Vietnam aquaculture’s development has been suffering the most from improper perception and action of the various components in the value chain. Marine exploitation and aquaculture are basically “freely accessible” which its management handles in specific cases only. Spontaneous aquaculture threatens the environment and sustainable development. Meanwhile, the unclear market information as well as the lack of links between the components in the value chain causes many difficulties for exports, such as product contamination and excessive antibiotics.
The system of local seafood retail is mainly through local markets where seafood is sold in conjunction with other foods. So far, there is no wholesale market or auction market specializing in marine products, including products used as raw materials for export processing for domestic consumption. Those are the obstacles that the fishery sector has to encounter on the export market. On the other hand, hygiene and food safety management faces difficulties such as delay in updating legal documents to match the export market; the lack of well trained staff, and non-professional seafood product management; all challenges for exporting seafood.
Business cooperation in developing the fishery chain
According to Professor Vo Tong Xuan, regardless of any economic component or of any production field, businesses always hold the leading role of the economy. It’s the same for aquaculture where the sustainable cooperation between businesses is the core issue to advance Vietnam’s seafood value chain.
For many years, enterprises haven’t actually finished their “leading” duty while farmers work very well in the role of relatively large suppliers of products. Therefore, it’s necessary for the businesses to strengthen consumption and bring benefits for the fishery industry.
Mr Pham Dinh Hoe, General Secretary of Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), shared his considerations about the objective of strengthening the cooperation and links between domestic seafood producers and exporters and with foreign businesses. In his opinion, this is due to small scale, the shortage in capital and the limited competitive experiences of the businesses compared to their larger and more experienced competitors. Winning in a fiercely competitive environment with high demand for quality goods requires businesses to strengthen cooperation rather than fighting for a sale. Proper cooperation is the right way to the sustainable development of fishery.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the link between farmers and enterprises can be focused on first, while that of farmers, researchers, governments and entrepreneurs can be conducted later. Indeed, governments and researchers are always ready to support the development of fishery, but the cooperation of the farmers and entrepreneurs is a crucial question. Entrepreneurs play the central role in supporting of techniques, capital, breed, food and materials procurement. Cooperation is the critical issue for the survival and sustainable development of the fishery sector in the aim of addressing input-output of raw materials as well as meeting the international demands.
Representative of the Ministry also recommends the enterprises conduct joint ventures with international partners first and then set up joint ventures invested abroad. This will utilize the strength of the capital investment and technologies to diversify export products and to improve product quality, leading to enhanced competitiveness for Vietnam’s aquatic products.
Nguyen Thanh
Vietnamese
