Bac Lieu has set developing hi-tech shrimp farming models as a primary direction to make the Mekong Delta province the "national shrimp industry hub" and develop the "Bac Lieu clean shrimp" brand.
Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Luu Hoang Ly said that the province has built five high-tech shrimp farming areas with an area of 3,900 ha in Nha Mat (Bac Lieu city), Vinh Hau, Vinh Hau A, Vinh Thinh (Hoa Binh district), and Long Dien Tay (Dong Hai district). The areas apply super-intensive, intensive, and semi-intensive farming models, with water-saving farming technology and biosafety farming methods.
Besides, it has paid attention to monitoring aquatic diseases and building disease-free areas and facilities for brackish water shrimp. Since 2017, the province has implemented a scheme for monitoring disease safety for export. The Viet Uc Bac Lieu Joint Stock Company, for example, was supported to build a shrimp production chain to ensure disease safety recommended by the World Organisation for Animal Health so that it can soon be recognised as a disease-free farming area eligible to export shrimp to Australia and other markets.
In 2023, twenty breed production facilities and seven shrimp farming facilities registered to build disease-free facilities.
The province promoted high technology in black tiger shrimp and white leg shrimp farming. At the same time, the province developed clean shrimp farming models in typical ecological areas such as the shrimp-forest model in the southern region of National Highway 1A; and the shrimp - rice model in the north of National Highway 1A. Machines are used in building/restoring ponds, aeration, and water pumping, which helps save labour and increases productivity.
Bac Lieu has three major exports, including shrimp, rice and salt. Among them, shrimp is the biggest foreign currency earner, constituting over 95% of the province's export turnover. The locality aims to earn 1.3 billion USD from shrimp export by 2025 and 1.7 billion USD by 2030.
Currently, there are 45 aquacultural processing factories for export in the province. With modern production lines, they are designed to deal with about 294,000 tonnes per year. The province's shrimp products are qualified to enter high-demanding markets such as the US, Japan, the EU, China, and the Republic of Korea (RoK).
However, according to the provincial agriculture official, Bac Lieu's shrimp sector still faces many difficulties including falling shrimp prices, and high input material costs, particularly animal feed costs.
Moreover, processing and exporting enterprises have not paid attention to building raw material areas, increasing the connection between production and consumption, or building brand.
On the other hand, irrigation infrastructure in many areas is not developed properly, causing difficulties in production activities and disease control. Local farmers still hesitate to invest in the 2-phase shrimp farming model because the high-tech shrimp farming model requires a large investment. Meanwhile, it's difficult for them to access bank loans.
