The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) in Vietnam has designed a new national plan to monitor the country’s shrimp production, aimed at progressing its shrimp exports to the standards required by countries importing the product as well as those recognized by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
Implementation of the plan will take place over the four-year period 2017-2020.
People’s Committees of major shrimp producing localities have been asked to make plans and also allocate capital for the introduction of measures that will prevent shrimp diseases, create low-risk areas and help shrimp farms meet international safety requirements.
By the end of 2017, MARD wants at least 10 percent of the country’s shrimp farms, producing over 1 billion post larval shrimp annually, to be recognized as “safe farms.” At the same time, the plan also sets a goal of at least one farm to be recognized for having a production chain that fully meets the OIE safety standards.
MARD said the standards required by OIE and importing countries will be shared among enterprises, along with guidelines on how to reach them.
According to local reports, by the end of September 2016, Vietnam had 80,000 hectares of farming areas dedicated to whiteleg shrimp farming, a year-on-year rise of 6.3 percent, with an output of 200,000 metric tons (MT), up 4.2 percent. At the same time, the total black tiger shrimp farming area has increased 0.6 percent to 583,000 hectares, with production amounting to 174,000 MT, a fall of 2.5 percent.
Meanwhile, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) has reported that as of 15 September, Vietnam had exported USD 2 billion (EUR 1.8 billion) worth of shrimp products, comprising more than USD 1.2 billion (EUR 1.1 billion) from whiteleg shrimp, USD 641 million (EUR 588.6 million) from black tiger shrimp and more than USD 168 million (EUR 154.3 million) of wild-caught shrimp.
