To meet the stringent requirements of shrimp buyers worldwide, some Vietnamese farmers are raising organic shrimp.
Some farms are improving their food-safety and product-quality standards by using organic-farming methods, and they're reaching out to organizations such as the Association for Organic Agriculture in Germany and the Swiss-based Institute for Market Ecology (IMO) for expert advice.
Pham Hoc Duyet, deputy director of Nam Can Seafood Import Export Co., said his company has already spent a lot of money on consultancy fees with the two European organizations.
Organic farming requires carefully selected pond sites, the protection of nearby ecosystems such as mangroves and chemical-free feeding and processing methods.
Currently, the IMO in Vietnam has issue only one organic certification to a shrimp farm in the Ngoc Hien district. However, Nguyen Thong Nhan, deputy director of the province's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, is convinced that more farms, including many in the Mekong Delta province of Ca Mau, will seek certification this year.
March 8, 2009
