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Mekong to boost shrimp exports
The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Soc Trang plans to become one of the worlds' major shrimp producers by meeting the highest standards for sustainability and traceability of products.
Officials made the statement in anticipation of a sustainability conference to be held in conjunction with the European Seafood Exposition 2010 in Brussels on April 28.
A mission from Soc Trang Province led by Tran Thanh Nghiep, Deputy Chairman of Soc Trang Province People's Committee, has left for the Brussels conference.
"Making our shrimp farming sustainable is actually making us, the people and the farmers, sustainable," he said in the statement.
Last month, Soc Trang Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) and the My Thanh Shrimp Farmers Association decided to initiate a major change in the province's shrimp industry.
The move was done based on the level of expectation of international buyers and the urgency of environmental change in farming practices.
To ensure the success of global integration, they outsourced the new programme to Qualasa Pte Ltd to manage this change.
As a shrimp feed producer, Qualasa will be in charge of implementing a contracted farming system to secure incomes for farmers and ensure capacity building and quality for international buyers.
Qualasa is establishing strategic partnerships with leading feed suppliers and water and waste water treatment solution providers. During the second step, domestication of the black tiger species will be launched to help contracted farmers.
"We have worked with the world's leading experts in the field of sustainability and transparency to help re-develop our shrimp farming practices in the region," said Nguyen Van Khoi, deputy director of Soc Trang DARD.
"Soc Trang has the best workforce and natural environment that is conducive to shrimp farming," said Nguyen Van Nhiem, chairman of My Thanh Shrimp Farmers Association.
"However, together with the partnership of international aquaculture specialists, our farmers are getting up to speed with globally recognised technology and best practices for shrimp farming,"
The European industry specialists have recognised Soc Trang region's potential as a shrimp producing powerhouse from a historical and geographical perspective.
As managing Director who coordinates Soc Trang's move towards full traceability and sustainability through absolute transparency and with the help of European experts, Xavier Bocquillet said Soc Trang Province farmers have all eagerly cooperated in the programme in transforming traditional shrimp farmers to agro-technopreneurs.
"Working with farmers who all have shrimp farming in their blood, we found it refreshing to coach these farmers and their families to adopt general agricultural practices that meet global standards," said Bocquillet.
One of Europe's leading water and waste water solution providers has met both Soc Trang's authorities and farmers and are willing to work closely to ensure the sustainability of their farms are upheld.
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has joined the initiative to ensure controlled implementation of the quality assurance management. The joint-project is developed with IMO's three-step certification system.
This principle will allow farmers to implement required standards progressively but efficiently with continuous technical support from the project management team. Such work will lead to AquaGAP certification as the first official standard. Then, according to market demand, other quality standards such as ASC, ACC, GLOBALGAP will be implemented later.
Backed by world-renowned traceability and sustainability technology, Soc Trang now aims to work with other certification organisations and NGOs to help monitor and provide transparency and value-chain integrity.
Viet Nam's agriculture, which has made up 20.3 per cent to the country's GDP, is poised to play a considerable role in the country's transition to a market-based economy. Viet Nam seafood exports are mostly pangasius and shrimp. Eighty per cent of the world's aquaculture activities occur in Asia.
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