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Seafood shortages hurt factories, workers, farmers
Many seafood processing factories have reportedly been running at 50 percent capacity, which means dire problems for factories, no jobs for workers, and farmers without products.
Material shortages have existed for the last several years, but they have never before been so serious.
Nguyen Thong Nhan, Deputy Director of the Ca Mau Department for Agriculture and Rural Development, reported that seafood processing workshops in the province are running at 48 percent capacity because of shrimp shortages. The province has 264,500 hectares for shrimp cultivation.
Pham Anh Dao, Senior Executive of Phu Cuong Processing Import-Export Company, confirmed that the factory is running at 50 percent capacity and sometimes even 5-10 percent capacity. Dao fears that the shortage will become more serious in early 2010.
An Giang province has over 1,000 hectares for tra fish cultivation. Deputy Chairman of An Giang Fisheries Association Le Chi Binh admitted that, because of continuous losses, many tra farmers do not have money for reinvestment. Currently, 30-40 percent of tra fish ponds are idle. The province’s 17 seafood enterprises with 23 tra processing factories are running at 50-60 percent capacity.
Workers are in a state of anxious suspense because shortages mean no jobs and they can be let go at any time. In the near future, there are also no signs of improvement.
According to Dong Thap Seafood Association, the province had 1,600 hectares for tra farming in 2009, a decrease of 200 hectares over the previous year.
Association Chairman Duong Nghia Quoc said that with the current modest area, Dong Thap will have 40,000 tons of tra to process from now to the end of 2009.
“The output will be nothing compared to the total processing capacity of 300,000 tons of finished products per annum, or 800,000 tons of material,” he acknowledged. “We need 66,000 tons of material every month.”
Fish breeders have also given up. Vinh Hoa Commune in An Giang province once had 16 hectares reserved for breeding fish. However, only nine hectares remain.
Dang Tan Thanh, a farmer with 20 years of experience, sadly observed that many farmers in the commune have given up. “Tra farmers are taking losses and they do not need to breed fish any more,” he offered.
vietnamnet, nld
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