Clam is one of the main species of aquaculture in Nam Dinh northern province. The province currently has more than 2,000 ha of clam farming, of which there are 2 large clam farming areas in Giao Thuy district with 1,665 ha, Nghia Hung district with 500 ha, annually supplying from 35 to 40 thousand tons of commercial clams and tens of billions of clam seed to the market.
Nam Dinh province develops sustainable clam farming areas
The province's clam farming area has implemented a strict food safety control program since 2004, so it is now ranked as 2 out of 13 clam farming areas in the country that meet the European B standard on biosecurity; products are eligible for export to the EU market. In 2020, the whole province has 500ha farming in the clam area of Nam Dien commune (Nghia Hung district) certified for sustainable aquaculture according to international standards ASC (the first ASC certification in Vietnam and in the world for Meretrix clams). lyrata). ASC certification is likened to "VISA VIP" for the province's clam products to enter many markets around the world, especially the markets of Europe, America, Japan and high-end supermarkets in China, with 2-3 times higher prices. This ASC certification will open up great opportunities to develop Vietnamese branded products from clams, which bring high economic value and can strongly promote the brand of aquaculture products of Vietnam in general and the province's clam brand in particular.
The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development continues to maintain a close monitoring program to ensure that in the coming time, the 500ha clam farming area of Nghia Hung district maintains the certification criteria. In addition, promoting propaganda to raise people's awareness of the importance of sustainable aquaculture development in general and sustainable clam farming in particular to encourage people and enterpreneurs to jointly develop more sustainable aquaculture areas. The province will maintain and develop 2 clam farming areas with B grade according to European standards, concentrate to develope Giao Thuy clam farming area according to ASC standards, and orient to develope products of 2 clam farming areas according to organic standards. .
In addition, the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development continues to support the maintenance and development of chain links in farming, processing and trading in clams in particular and seafood in general; focus resources on supporting enterprises to promote deep processing, develop new products from clam, strive to have more 5-star OCOP products developed from Nam Dinh ASC clam products.
In the coming time, the province will have solutions to attract businesses to invest in production linkages and clam product consumption for the farmers. Therefore, it will creat conditions for Lenger Vietnam Co., Ltd. to build a pilot model for cleaning clams to reach grade A according to European standards in terms of biology so that the product is eligible for direct export to the market.