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Vietnam's shrimp industry feeling
the heat
By Tran Dinh Thanh Lam
HO CHI MINH CITY - "The changing weather
is harming our shrimp harvest," said Tu Can,
pointing to the stock of dying crustaceans that
workers have just removed from his polluted pond.
The old farmer, who owns a 1.5-hectare
shrimp farm at Gia Hoa Village at My Xuyen Commune
in Soc Trang province, told IPS that hot days
followed by cold nights were killing off his
dwindling shrimp fry before they were mature
enough to be harvested.
Vietnam is
suffering from its worst drought in 28 years.
Experts estimate that the severe drought has
affected 1 million people and caused crop losses
amounting to over 1.3 trillion dong (US$80
million).
The drought, coupled with
polluted brackish water used in the shrimp farms,
has taken a heavy toll on the earnings of farmers.
An estimated 2 million people are involved
in Vietnam's shrimp industry, many of them farmers
who live on the margins of poverty, and shrimp
exports rank among Vietnam's top five foreign
exchange earners. The US imported $588 million in
shrimp products from Vietnam in 2003, or almost
50% of the country's total shrimp exports.
But at the end of 2003, a group of
domestic US shrimp producers petitioned the US
government to tax their competitors and consumers
by placing duties on imported shrimp from Vietnam
and five other countries. On July 6 last year, the
US Commerce Department announced preliminary
dumping margins on shrimp imports from Vietnam
ranging from 12.11% to 93.13%.
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have
condemned US duties on Vietnamese shrimp, saying
it will devastate Vietnam's economy and the
country's ability to improve the lives of its
people.
Adding to this blow is the current
drought and observers indicate exports this year
will fall significantly. The repercussions, they
add, will impact severely on the economy.
A recent survey conducted by the British
NGO ActionAid showed that shrimp farming accounts
for 50% of the gross domestic product in some
provinces.
For Tu Can, the loss this
season is about 160 million dong (nearly $10,000).
Early this year, he bred 150,000 shrimp fry in his
ponds. At first, the shrimps grew normally and Tu
Can was already dreaming of a big harvest.
But his problems began in February when
the hot weather dried up his ponds. Tu Can then
started pumping water from irrigation canals. That
was when he noticed his shrimp fry falling sick.
Soon some of them started dying.
"Many
shrimp farmers in upstream dump wastewater
directly into the irrigation system, thus
polluting the surrounding canals. We farmers
downstream pump the needy water into our ponds,
and spread the pollution. Shrimp diseases spread
from pond to pond this way," Tu Can explained.
Farmers in Soc Trang bear the same
misfortune, witnessing in despair their stock of
tiger prawns perishing by the thousands.
"We had already warned farmers about the
drought that lasts possibly from January to May.
We also told them to wait until May to breed and
grow their shrimps," said Pham Huu Lai, deputy
director of the Soc Trang Office for Aquaculture.
"But no one took our warnings seriously
because everybody wanted to cash in on the
opportunity to make money because of the high
prices. This has resulted in more than 1,500
hectares of shrimp farms being classified in the
danger list," said Lai.
With the current
outbreak of bird flu in the Mekong River Delta,
many farmers have shifted to shrimp farming to
make a livelihood. In the meantime, the bird flu
scare has also resulted in a 35% rise in the
consumption of freshwater fish and shrimp in Ho
Chi Minh City.
"Our biggest concern is to
find a sound method to breed and raise shrimp
during the hot season," said Phan Truong Giang,
director of the Bac Lieu Office for Aquaculture.
Last year's hot weather and the ensuing
drought wiped out about 40% of shrimp stocks in
farms in Bac Lieu. With this year's drought, the
loss is expected to be much higher.
Water
levels in major canals are 20 centimeters lower
than previous years and even as low as 50
centimeters in some areas. In addition the water
salinity levels, which are fast approaching
seven-year highs, are threatening crops.
Experts at the Can Tho University's
Faculty of Aquaculture think that overproduction
coupled with the lasting drought have "downgraded"
most shrimp farms in the Mekong River Delta.
"Farmers breed too many shrimp fry in the
ponds that are already crowded and polluted.
Moreover, the ponds have too small edges and
cannot retain water during the drought. As a
result of this, the shrimps go into 'shock' and
die due to these environmental changes," they
said.
Dr Nguyen Chu Hoi of the Institute
for Economics and Marine Planning said that big
shrimp farms could also threaten to dry out fresh
underground water resources. Shrimp raised on 300
hectares for two successive crops need about 15
million cubic meters of fresh water a year, he
said.
In Soc Trang Province, for instance,
to maintain 45,000 hectares of shrimp farms 2,250
million cubic meters of water would be needed a
year, added Hoi. "Over-tapping fresh water for
shrimp raising could cause land subsidence. Also,
precious water resources will dry out."
(Inter Press Service) |
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