(CPV) - Vietnam Cleaner Production Centre (VNCPC), Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) and other partners have launched a new project titled “Establishing a sustainable pangasius supply chain in Vietnam" (SUPA).
The project is worth of EUR2.4 million, of which the European Union finances EUR1.9 million under the EU SWITCH-Asia program. The project is implemented by VNCPC in partnership with VASEP, WWF-Vietnam and WWF- Austria.
It aims to improve the competitiveness of Vietnam’s pangasius industry in the global market. Through this project, EU directly supports the entire pangasius supply chain from hatcheries, feed producers and processors in Vietnam to traders and end-use customers, including those in the EU which is the largest market for Vietnam's pangasius export.
The 4-year project, running from 2013 to 2017, will focus on capacity building, promotion of responsible production to increase product quality, mitigation of environmental impacts and reduction on production costs by applying resources efficiency and cleaner production (RECP) methodology, product innovation and market development and promotion.
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Cultivating pangasius in Can Tho city. (Photo: danviet.vn) |
The project also supports information exchange, techniques for households and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in applying the current sustainable standards as aquaculture stewardship council (ASC), Global GAP, towards sustainable production aimed to increase the competitiveness of the pangasius sector in the world market.
“SUPA is one of the supporting projects for Vietnam's pangasius sector, which not only approaches from supply chain viewpoint but also applies “PUSH” and “PULL” methods for activities such as sustainable production and market promotion. It also includes the application of research results into practice”, said Associated Prof. Dr. Tran Van Nhan, Director of VNCPC.
It is expected that by the completion of the project, at least 70% of the targeted middle to large pangasius producing and processing enterprises, together with 30% of the feed producers and small independent production will be actively engaged in RE-CP.
Currently, at least 50% of targeted processing SMEs are providing sustainable products compliant with the ASC standard to EU and other markets./.