October 4, 2024 | 15:30 GMT +7

  • Click to copy
Monday- 14:56, 30/09/2024

Commercial pangasius is lost up to 30–50% during the farming stage

(VAN) Scientist Nguyen Van Kien shared the initial results of the project researching intervention solutions to reduce food loss in the catfish supply chain.
The number of catfish is lost up to 30–50% during the commercial farming stage. Photo: ACIAR.

The number of catfish is lost up to 30–50% during the commercial farming stage. Photo: ACIAR.

The "Food loss in the catfish value chain in the Mekong River Basin" project is co-sponsored by the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and the International Development Research Center (IDRC).

The project aims to identify current and future food loss and waste situations in the catfish supply chain in the Mekong River Basin in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia and develop intervention solutions to reduce losses.

Capacity building for domestic researchers

One of the project's main goals is to increase the research capacity on food loss for researchers in the three countries participating in the project. They have been trained on value chain, social research, and skills in data collection and interaction with businesses and stakeholders. 

The groups were also trained on the foresighting technique to analyze risks by envisioning probable developments in the catfish supply chain in the future.

Value chain research

After training, the project has built and tested value chain research tools to serve the data collection expected to take place in July and August 2024. The project's main research objective is to evaluate key value chains in the catfish industry in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.

Because women and men both play important roles in catfish production processes in the supply chain, the project team also researched gender documents for research activities.

In May 2024, the University of Adelaide's Center for Global Food and Resources organized a workshop with the participation of researchers in all three countries to identify key catfish value chains, evaluate progress, and agree on an approach along the pangasius value chain, focusing on the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. Each country then agreed on key catfish value chains to include in research activities.

Initially, research groups in each country conducted meetings and interviewed key informants in the supply chain. Losses and wastage of raw materials and value (money) are recorded along the chain, from catfish parents to fingerlings, raised on the farm, transported from the farm to the factory, processed, and consumed.

Vietnam's researchers visited the Sao Mai catfish processing factory in Dong Thap province in February 2024. Photo: Trinh Thi Lan, An Giang University.

Vietnam's researchers visited the Sao Mai catfish processing factory in Dong Thap province in February 2024. Photo: Trinh Thi Lan, An Giang University.

Scientists then converted the value of these losses into money while also recording other forms of loss, revealing a significant total loss occurring across the entire catfish industry.

This is just an initial preliminary study. A larger-scale survey will be conducted in 2024 to refine the value chain analysis and better understand food loss and waste, as well as losses in other supply chains.

However, the initial preliminary research results have shown significant losses in the supply chain, especially in the stages of breeding, commercial growing, harvesting, transportation, and processing. Interviews with fingerling farmers, commercial farmers, transporters, and factories in An Giang province in January 2024 provided the following information:

+ Fingerling stage (90 days): The survival rate was previously 10–12% and has now decreased to 2–3%; the highest survival rate today is 5% on average.

+ Commercial farming stage (8–10 months): Fish loss is up to 30%–50% of fish heads. Extended fish harvest time will cause economic losses due to the loss of additional feed costs, and oversized fish will have to be sold at a lower price. Other losses include wasting sediment and farm water, which could be used to make organic fertilizer and artemia to raise pangasius seed but are not fully utilized.

+ Harvesting at the farming pond: Head loss rate is 1–2%; selling price reduced by 86% for dead fish (dead fish selling price is VND 4,000/kg, compared to live fish of VND 28,000/kg).

+ Transportation: loss of 4–5% from the pond to the rowboat and 1–2% on the rowboat during transportation; 86% discount on dead fish.

+ Processing: percentage of loss varies depending on fish size and quality, technical performance of fillet workers, and total inventory. Waste occurs when by-products such as fish blood are not utilized effectively. Fish skin, which was previously wasted, is now used to make high-value collagen products.

The ACAIAR project team improved understanding of the processing processes in the factory and physical loss assessment. Photo: ACIAR.

The ACAIAR project team improved understanding of the processing processes in the factory and physical loss assessment. Photo: ACIAR.

The importance of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary collaboration in food loss research

The project encountered many challenges in applying new concepts of foresighting, value chain mapping, and gender research in the catfish supply chain. 

However, experts in these research fields have participated in training project staff, and as a result, the research capacity of the groups in the three Mekong River Basin countries has been significantly improved. This is all thanks to the interdisciplinary and comprehensive property of the team involved in the project.

By combining skills, the project team developed a specialist understanding of aquaculture, processing processes in the factory, and physical loss assessment. Economic and social researchers brought expertise in economic damage analysis, stakeholder mobilization, and ways of collaborating with external partners, including governments and businesses, to better understand food and non-food losses during the research process. The project's aim is to use this knowledge to develop strong intervention solutions to reduce food and non-food loss and waste in the catfish farming industry in the Mekong River Basin.

The project appreciates the contributions of research partners, including the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Vietnam Directorate of Fisheries, the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, the New England University, the Swinburne University, the Australian National University, An Giang University -  Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, Royal University of Agriculture of Cambodia, Vinh Hoan Company Limited, Viet-Australia Joint Stock Company, Nam Viet Joint Stock Company, Sao Mai Joint Stock Company, and farmers and farming, processing, and transportation businesses participating in interviews.

Author: Dr. Nguyen Van Kien

Translated by Thu Huyen

Several durian varieties have high export value

Several durian varieties have high export value

(VAN) The following durian varieties are popular in the market and have high export value, but for production development, they must be grown from clonal mother trees.

Choosing the path of clean agriculture: 'Matchmakers' helping farmers shift their mindset

Choosing the path of clean agriculture: 'Matchmakers' helping farmers shift their mindset

(VAN) After partnering with the cooperative, many farmers have transformed their thinking, transitioning from chemical-based to organic farming, which has brought significant benefits to both their livelihoods and the environment.

Choosing the path of clean agriculture: Bechamp’s aspiration

Choosing the path of clean agriculture: Bechamp’s aspiration

(VAN) Among those who have chosen this path are intellectuals and true farmers alike. They all share a common vision: a firm commitment to practicing clean agriculture, despite knowing the many challenges ahead.

IPHM application helps rice get healthy and profits increase by USD 114/ha

IPHM application helps rice get healthy and profits increase by USD 114/ha

(VAN) In the IPHM application model, farmers sow with 120 kg/ha of seed and fertilize with the N-P-K formula (90-60-30) combined with basal fertilization of 200 kg/ha of organic fertilizer.

Testing the crop nutrient management application

Testing the crop nutrient management application

(VAN) RCM application can provide recommendations on fertilizer dosage, time of fertilization, and water management, helping to improve fertilizer use efficiency, increase income, and reduce emissions.

Expanding the circular economy model from rice straw in Can Tho

Expanding the circular economy model from rice straw in Can Tho

(VAN) The circular economy model from rice straw helps farmers increase their income while addressing the issue of not burning straw in the fields, which is both wasteful and harmful to the environment.

The first province in the Mekong Delta to realize the Organic Agriculture Development Project

The first province in the Mekong Delta to realize the Organic Agriculture Development Project

(VAN) As an inevitable trend, organic agricultural production, like a spark fanned by the winds of consumer trends, is quietly spreading across the fields of the southwestern region.

Read more