Farmers in the fertile Ca Mau Peninsula are aiming at becoming the country's major exporters of aqua-culture products, says Ca Mau provincial Department of Fisheries Director Pham Van Duc.
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Shrimp breeding is expected to improve the living standards of many people on the Ca Mau Peninsula. |
Mr Duc says more than 430,000ha of water surface in the peninsula have been designated for farming with aqua-products, mainly shrimps.
The peninsula comprises Bac Lieu and Ca Mau provinces, and the two districts of An Bien and An Minh in Kien Giang Province.
With an area covering nearly 1mil ha, a coastline of more than 307km and numerous big river mouths, the peninsula is very suitable for agro-forestry and fishery development. With the rich bio-diversity as a result of both its fresh and saline water resources, the region is suitable for diverse agriculture production, including aqua-culture products.
To tap the great economic potential of the region, the government has from the 1990s been investing huge amounts of money in infrastructure development, including irrigation, transport and electricity projects.
Mega-irrigation projects included diverting fresh water from the Hau River (a tributary of the Mekong River) to the Quan Lo Phung Hiep region. The water travels some 200km to Ca Mau, the project's most remote point.
However, the project's implementation has been hampered by problems such as the region's complicated geographical characteristics, criss-crossing canals and weak soil conditions, in addition to changing water conditions - fresh water in the rainy season and saline water in the dry season.
Since 1990, some 8,000km of irrigation canals and many major sluices have been constructed to ensure that the Ca Mau Peninsula receives sufficient water. The most noteworthy construction project has been the Tac Thu sluice gate, built at a cost of nearly VND80bil (US$5.1mil).
The gate, commissioned in late 2005, prevents the infiltration of saline water into the acreage under cultivation in the districts of U Minh and Thoi Binh in Ca Mau Province, and some fields in Gia Rai, Phuoc Long and Hong Dan districts, Bac Lieu Province.
Fresh water from the Hau River now irrigates 70,000ha of fields in Bac Lieu, 50,000ha in Ca Mau and 66,000ha in Kien Giang.
The irrigation project has enabled farmers to grow two or even three rice crops a year, instead of one crop per year as in the past.
All communes in the region now have paved roadways for motorcycles, while 60% of the communes have roads for cars. Also, 80-85% of households in the community now have electricity.
Sustainability
The director of the Bac Lieu Agriculture and Rural Development Department, Luong Ngoc Lan, says the Ca Mau Peninsula has undergone a makeover in recent years.
He says in the past five years, farmers in the province have increased the shrimp breeding area to more than 100,000ha. Shrimp farmers earned about VND54mil ($3,300) per ha, annually. Revenue collected from aquaculture has contributed to raise the province's annual GDP to 14.5% and reduce the poor household rate to 5% (an average of 4,500 poor households per year).
Lan says the province has invested more than VND4.2bil in developing aquaculture and rice-cultivation infrastructure. Of this amount, VND3,2bil were from the people and different economic sectors, with the remainder coming from the State budget. The province now boasts more than 40,000ha planted with high-quality rice and about 40,000ha under aquaculture, Lan says. By late 2006, the aquaculture farming area is estimated to reach 60,000ha.
Lan says Bac Lieu wanted to become the pace setter for diversified agricultural production in the Ca Mau Peninsula.
Shrimp farming first started in Ca Mau more than 20 years ago. But it only became a burning issue in 1999, when farmers spontaneously flooded their fields with saline water to raise shrimp.
In response to the farmers' desire to make more money raising shimp. Ca Mau authorities adopt a policy encouraging farmers to switch from rice cultivation to shrimp farming on a large scale. Up to now, about 230,000 households have engaged in shrimp farming on nearly 250,000ha. Last year, total shrimp production in the province reached nearly 100,000 tonnes, earning some $510mil in exports.
Director Duc says the hard currency earned from shrimp exports has not yet matched the province's massive potential. He suggests that the aquaculture acreage be increased to between 80,000ha and 100,000ha, taking different bio-diversity characteristics into account.
To achieve this, Duc has asked provincial authorities to initiate measures to give farmers technical help, particularly on the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases in shrimp and other aqua-culture species.
Nguyen Van Han, a farmer from Tan Thanh Commune, Ca Mau City, has been very successful. Han used to raise shrimps on 4ha but his harvests were small. In the past two years, Han decided to invest more in renovating his existing land.
He divided the 4ha into two: one half filled with saline water to raise shrimps, fish and crabs; the other filled with fresh water for growing rice and raising freshwater fish, including bong tuong (Oxyeleotris marmoratus).
He used the earthen partitions separating the two areas to grow fruit trees and vegetables. Han now makes a profit of VND250mil a year, and many other farmers in the commune have adopted his successful methods.
(Source: Viet Nam News) |