Effective and sustainable aquaculture development

Phu Tho is a locality with great potential and advantages for aquaculture development. The province has mechanisms and policies to support breeds, infrastructure, fisheries extension, credit loans, and water surface leases to encourage people to develop aquaculture in the direction of commodity production and value addition. Thanks to that, the aquaculture sector has made great strides, forming many intensive farming models with high productivity and efficiency, contributing to the overall growth of the province’s agricultural sector.

Harvesting giant freshwater prawns in Van Khuc commune, Cam Khe district.

Increasing productivity

Phu Tho has a diverse system of rivers, streams, ponds, and lakes favorable for aquaculture, with an area of over 10,800 hectares, of which the specialized farming area is 5,600 hectares, the area of reservoirs and single-crop fields is 5,200 hectares, and the total number of intensive farming cages is 1,337 cages. In recent years, aquaculture in the province has been constantly developing in both quantity and quality. Many localities have not only reduced poverty but also become bright spots in economic development in aquaculture, typically Minh Coi commune, Ha Hoa district; Van Khuc commune, Cam Khe district; Son Thuy commune, Thanh Thuy district...

The province has approved the plan for agricultural, forestry, and fishery development to 2025 with a vision to 2030, with the goal of building a modern and sustainable agricultural sector, applying high technology to increase productivity, quality, efficiency, and competitiveness, and rapidly increasing the income and living standards of rural workers. On that basis, the province has issued policies on aquaculture development, focusing on detailed planning for each locality, accompanying aquaculture farmers to build linkage chains, linking production with consumption, coordinating with consumption and processing enterprises to build a plan for stable aquaculture development, and strengthening state management to closely monitor and grasp enterprises, cooperatives, farms, concentrated farming areas, cage fish farming facilities, and the and the production and trading of aquatic breeds and materials in the province. At the same time, applying scientific and technical advances, replicating aquaculture models with high economic efficiency, and creating new momentum for the aquaculture industry in the province.

Cam Khe is one of the localities that early identified the advantages of aquaculture due to its large area of natural ponds and lakes. Moreover, a large part of the cultivated area is low-lying rice fields with ineffective single-crop rice cultivation, favorable for specialized fish farming or combined rice-fish models.

Mr. Nguyen Cong Chinh, Deputy Head of the District Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said: The district has implemented synchronous solutions for aquaculture development, focusing on building and completing infrastructure for concentrated aquaculture areas such as the Lang Chuong field area, the Men field area, the Son Tinh, Phu Khe, and Ta Xa aquaculture areas." Promoting investment in intensive industrial and semi-industrial farming; implementing well the management of seed quality; renovating and cleaning ponds and lakes; managing farming seasons, farming objects, and farming methods suitable to local conditions; enhancing the transfer of scientific and technical advances through training and coaching on aquaculture techniques; and building appropriate demonstration models with high replicability. In the period of 2021-2024, the district has supported the construction of points for introducing and selling aquatic products; successfully built the Green Crab certification brand; built VietGAP standards for 2 hectares of Green Crab in Van Khuc commune;.

Thanks to that, aquaculture production in the district has gradually developed strongly. In 2023, the whole district had an area of 1,864 hectares of aquaculture water surface, with an output of nearly 8,300 tons, an increase of 108% over the same period. In addition to traditional aquatic species, high-value aquatic species such as crispy carp, green crayfish, snails, catfish, and eel were raised by people, bringing 4-5 times higher efficiency than traditional fish farming.

Thanks to the efforts of localities in aquaculture development, the area of aquaculture water surface in the province has been maintained stably and tends to innovate farming forms, types, and the quality of farmed products. In 2023, the total output of aquaculture products will reach over 42,000 tons, an increase of 3.87%, of which fish of all kinds will reach 41,854 tons, an increase of 3.74%; shrimp output will reach 91.05 tons, an increase of 7.24%. Other aquatic product output will reach 172.67% tons, an increase of 44.82% over the same period. Production and breeding of fish fry are estimated at 1,600 million... Aquatic product output in the first 6 months of this year is estimated at 20,700 tons, an increase of 3.3% over the same period in 2023.

People in Lam Thao town and Lam Thao district apply scientific and technological advances to improve economic efficiency through aquaculture.

Removing difficulties for development

Although the province’s aquaculture output and productivity have increased continuously over the years, they are still low; aquatic products are not diverse, mainly consumed in fresh form; there are no processed products; and product quality is uneven. In addition, infrastructure in many areas has not been invested in or has degraded, and high-tech application models are few. In particular, in the current period, the province’s aquaculture production has been continuously affected by droughts and floods caused by climate change; aquatic diseases are complicated and tend to increase, limiting people’s investment in improving productivity and output.

To overcome difficulties and move towards sustainable aquaculture development, the Fisheries Sub-Department continues to advise the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to promptly issue documents guiding and directing production organization, natural disaster prevention and control, and aquaculture development close to the production season; guide people to apply safe food farming processes, VietGAP, and technical measures to manage the pond environment; and prevent and treat fish diseases during the transitional season. Promote the application of scientific and technical advances in aquaculture, the preliminary processing and processing of aquatic products in an environmentally friendly manner, gradually replacing the use of chemicals with biological products, and not using antibiotics in aquatic production.

For local seed production facilities, actively care for and raise parent fish, ensuring the production and rearing of over 1,500–1,600 million fingerlings of all kinds, of which the proportion of specialty fingerlings and valuable fingerlings accounts for more than 60% of the breeding structure. Implement breeding models with high economic value, at the same time summarize and evaluate, replicate effective breeding models, propose solutions to organize effective and sustainable production, and promote the potential and advantages of the province’s water surface.

Regarding the solution for aquaculture development, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Chung, Deputy Head of the Department of Fisheries, said that one of the important tasks of the Fisheries sector in the coming time is to focus on directing the restructuring of production towards intensive farming to increase productivity and quality, reduce the scale of cages on rivers, increase the scale of cages in reservoirs, and improve the productivity and efficiency of farming in single-crop rice fields and large water surfaces. Expand the farming area of special and indigenous aquatic species with high economic value, such as: catfish, catfish, catfish, grass carp, black carp, hybrid carp, tilapia, red tilapia, giant freshwater prawn, eel, frog, etc.; increase the proportion of breeds with high economic value from 60% to 70%, contributing to improving quality, meeting market requirements, and increasing economic efficiency. Strive for total aquatic product output in 2024 to reach over 46,000 tons, an increase of 4% compared to 2023, and by 2025 to reach over 48,000 tons.

Ha Nhung