Harvesting tra fish in Can Tho city (Photo: VNA)
More farmers are breeding the fish because of the high price, but authorities have told them to not breed the fish in unplanned areas as there are threats of disease outbreaks and reduced productivity.
The prices of adult Tra fish and fry have been stable since early last year, resulting in many farmers switching to breed the fish.
The price of adult Tra fish is VND32,000 – 33,000 (USD1.4 – 1.6) a kilogramme, up VND1,000 – 2,000 a kilogramme against last month.
In Long An province, the provincial People’s Committee has ordered local authorities in Tan Hung, Vinh Hung and Thanh Hoa districts and Kien Tuong town to warn local rice farmers not to breed fish in unzoned areas.
Many farmers in the districts and town began turning their paddy fields into Tra fish breeding ponds late last year.
In Tan Hung district, the fry fish breeding area has increased from 500ha late last year to nearly 800ha.
The Long An provincial People’s Committee has also instructed its Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to review the local aquaculture zoning plan and work with localities to determine which aquaculture areas have water and land resources suitable for breeding the fish.
In Dong Thap province, the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has urged the province’s People Committee and the Tan Hong district People’s Committee to stop the digging of new Tra fish ponds in unzoned areas in Tan Hong.
Tan Hong district and Hong Ngu town have the largest new Tra fish breeding areas in Dong Thap.
Farmers in the province, the delta’s largest Tra fish producer, have turned more than 100ha of rice fields into Tra fish ponds so far this year, according to the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
In the delta, Tra fry are bred mostly in Dong Thap, An Giang and Long An provinces.
The Mekong delta produced about 373,400 tonnes of adult Tra fish in the first four months of the year, an increase of 9 percent year-on-year, according to statistics from provinces and city in the region./.