Vietnam has announced a strategy to develop a commercial aquaculture program centered on giant freshwater prawn, with a production target of 50,000 metric tons (MT) by 2025.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has designated an area of 50,000 hectares, spread across several provinces, for the project, according to an outline released by the ministry earlier this month. The country hopes to earn USD 100 million (EUR 84.8 million) from exports of the species by 2025, with an expected export growth rate rising by 14.8 percent per year.
As part of the initiative, Vietnam also aims to produce between two and three billion shrimp postlarvae to serve farming demand. Postlarvae supply centers will be set up in key farming provinces across the country.
The high survival rate and low disease exposure of giant freshwater prawn makes it a good choice for more concentrated cultivation efforts, it said. The new effort will focus on increased cultivation in the northern and southern regions of the country. In the Red River Delta and the mountainous areas of northern Vietnam, the species will be largely raised under the model of shrimp-rice dual cultivation. In the Mekong Delta, in the country’s south, farming methods applied must meet sustainability requirements and be built out to accomodate the changing ecological environment being caused by climate change. In An Giang, Dong Thap, Long An, and Kien Giang provinces, intensive and semi-intensive farms will be given priority, while the shrimp-rice model also be implemented elsewhere in the region.
As part of the plan, the ministry will also encourage the development of farms that raise certified organic giant freshwater prawns.
China, Taiwan, other countries in Southeast Asia, and the domestic market were identified as the primary destinations for the increased production. The Vietnamese ministry said it will coordinate market research to identify opportunities and determine the competitiveness of other countries producing the species.
According to Vietfish Magazine, currently, giant freshwater prawn in Vietnam is mainly reared in Mekong Delta, with 26,900 hectares dedicated to its production as of 2018.
Photo courtesy of Independent birds/Shutterstock
