Photo for illustration (Source: kinhtenongthon.vn)
Material resource shortages
According to the Directorate of Fisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the aquaculture output of the whole country in November 2016 reached over 3.2 million tons, up 1.9% compared to the same period in 2015. Aquatic exploitation activity also reaches more than 2.8 million tons, up 2% compared to the same period of last year. It is expected that the value of aquatic export in 2016 will reach USD8 billion, up more than 7% over the same period of last year. In particular, the US, Japan, China and the Republic of Korea (RoK) are the 4 leading importing markets, accounting for 54.1% of total aquatic export value.
In spite of its high growth rate, significantly contributing to the growth of Vietnam’s agriculture, the fisheries sector is facing many challenges and difficulties.
According to Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Oai, Deputy Head of the Directorate of Fisheries, demand of material usage of enterprises is now increasing, but enterprises are lacking materials, only operating with a capacity of 40 to 50%.
The reason for material shortages is complicated weather, prolonged sunshine leads to a lack of water, rising temperatures and high salinity that weaken shrimp, enabling pathogens to grow. Factors "inputs" such as breeding shrimp, chemicals used for environment improvement, quality of bioproducts, are not guaranteed. From the beginning of the year to now, brackish water shrimp farming area of the whole country is near 60,000 hectares, up 20.5% over the same period last year.
Not only shortages of material shrimp, but material catfish is also lacked, which has only 300,000 tons. It is forecasted from now to February 2017, the amount of catfish bred in the Mekong Delta is not enough for processing and export. Besides, in some places, aquaculture processes don't ensure food safety, therefore Vietnam's aquatic products are rejected when imported by major markets like the US, Europe, and Japan.
According to a survey of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), in recent years, about 10% of Vietnam's aquatic products have been rejected by the EU market and 30% by Japan. This not only seriously affects export value, but it also negatively impacts Vietnam’s aquatic products brand on the world market.
Improving competition by quality
In 2017, Vietnam's aquatic sector will continue to face significant challenges with increasing technical barriers in importing countries. Therefore, to maintain growth rate, in the next time, the government should have policies to support farmers and businesses in the process of aquaculture.
Localities should focus on improving the quality of breeding, reorganizing production chain; raw material region and processing businesses should be close cooperation to serve export.
To ensure raw materials for export, businesses and households should link together to form a closed chain. The government should have policies to support farmers to apply safe aquaculture process, reaching VietGAP standard to strictly control the quality of products from raw material to commercial products.
In 2016, aquatic products are one important sector helping the agricultural sector reach the planned growth rate. However, aquatic exports must compete fiercely. Many other countries are also focusing on aquatic export promotion. Therefore, enterprises should actively seize regulations on food safety and hygiene of importing countries, as well as regulations on labeling and packing to ensure quality.
It should be noted that localities should strengthen inspection and supervision of input materials, communication and warning of farmers to conduct aquaculture under proper procedures to ensure food safety.
In term of aquatic exploitation, fishermen and businesses should promote to strengthen science – technology application to post-harvest preservation, organization of production in chain to improve efficiency. Businesses should proactively invest and improve the quality of competitive products in all markets./.