More measures to prevent and control disease on fishery products

On May 7, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development coordinated with Ca Mau People's Committee to organize the conference "Prevention and control of disease on fishery products in 2022".

According to a report from the Department of Animal Health, despite the difficulties caused by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the prevention of aquatic diseases continued to achieve important results.

The disease-affected aquaculture area in 2021 was over 5,600 ha, down 33% over the same period in 2020. Dangerous aquatic diseases remained under control, and newly emerging dangerous diseases were successfully prevented from entering the country.

Particularly from the beginning of 2022 the aquaculture area affected by diseases is approximately 1,200 ha, an increase of nearly 14% compared to the same period in 2021. The affected shrimp farming area is nearly 1,000 ha, mainly white spot disease and Acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND). Approximately 406 aquaculture rafts and net ponds in An Giang, Dong Thap, and Ben Tre suffered some common diseases.

Through field inspection, the damage mainly occurred in black tiger shrimp extensive farming pond in the form of full exploitation of natural ponds, lagoons and water sources to breed many aquatic species at the same time such as sea crabs, sea fish, mollusks. The reason fell to not investing in pond and farming environment improvement and not feeding adequate supplementary food for the breeds.

"The Covid-19 epidemic had severely affected all fields in 2021 including economy, life, culture, and tourism. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) had also warned that there would be a large number of people having to suffer food shortages in the near future. In the case of Vietnam, we were unable to import many kinds of materials for animal feed production, veterinary medicine, aquaculture inputs, and fertilizer production, causing serious problems to our country’s agroproduction," said Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien.

Despite all difficulties, Vietnam’s agroproduction still overcomes challenges and grows. Especially in the fishery field, the total production output in the first 4 months of 2022 is estimated at 2.6 million tons, up 2.2% over the same period in 2021. Fishing output reaches 1.2 million tons, and aquaculture output reaches 1.37 million tons. Fishery export value in the first 4 months of 2022 is estimated at USD 3.5 billion, up 43% over the same period in 2021, reaching nearly 40% of the 2022 plan.

Previously the delegation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development worked with leaders of Ca Mau People's Committee on the situation of production, management of fishery activities, livestock development and disease prevention and control activities in the province.

Mr. Chau Cong Bang, Deputy Director of Ca Mau Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said, “The total fishery production in the first 4 months of 2022 reached over 200,000 tons, in which fishing output reaches 77,000 tons and aquaculture production reaches nearly 130,000 tons. Seafood export turnover until April 2022 reaches nearly USD 400 million. The aquaculture acreage is 280,000 ha specifically the area of ​​super-intensive and intensive shrimp farming is nearly 8,000 ha. The area for improved extensive shrimp farming is 172,000 ha.

In the first 4 months of 2022, 9,300 ha of ​​super-intensive, intensive and extensive shrimp farming has been damaged by disease. There are also cases of abnormal death of crabs occurring in the districts of Ngoc Hien, Nam Can, Dam Doi, Cai Nuoc and Phu Tan at the beginning of the year.

“Ca Mau province plays a very important role in our country's agriculture, especially in the field of fishery. Ca Mau is also considered the ‘fishery product vault’ of the Mekong Delta region with its fishing output continuously increasing over the years. It is therefore extremely important to promote disease prevention and control measures as well as invest in the seafood production chain of the province,” said Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien.