(vasep.com.vn) Fish farmers will be compulsory to adopt the Vietnamese Good Agriculture Practice (VietGAP) standards in their farming process. VietGAP is also a base to link producers, consumers and retailers, Mr. Pham Anh Tuan – Deputy General Director of the Directorate of Fisheries (D-Fish) revealed in the workshop “Seeking co-operation in strengthening application of VietGap” recently held in Ho Chi Minh city.
From 2015 onwards, pangasius farming and processing will be obligatory to apply VietGAP standard. Afterwards, VietGAP certification will be applied for other aquatic species.
To encourage farmers and enterprises to apply VietGAP in their production and boost sales of VietGAP-certified products, D-Fish will introduce VietGAP to domestic and foreign large distributors. D-Fish also seeks to raise awareness of producers, distributors and consumers on the advantages of VietGAP certified products.
D-Fish cooperated with the Metro Cash & Carry Viet Nam to establish aquaculture standards temporarily called MetroGAP in the situation of the incomplete system of agro-aquaculture standards.
MetroGAP is a rundown of internationally recognized standards that meet basic requirements of the Metro system in terms of grow-out techniques, harvest, fishing, packaging, transportation, chemicals, veterinary, etc. Under MetroGAP standards, Metro set up a fish platform in Can Tho city and purchased raw finfish from the Mekong Delta. The fish platform daily purchases 5-7 MT of finfish in all varieties including farmed and caught fish.
In the context of agro-aquaculture production in compliance with VietGAP is stepped up and the application of VietGAP standards will be compulsory for pangasius and shrimp production; D-Fish worked with Metro to integrate MetroGAP with VietGAP so that VietGAP-certified seafood can be sold at Metro’s outlets.
In the near future, apart from MetroGAP-certified seafood, Metro will sell live and fresh food produced by suppliers which can meet VietGAP, Philip Bacac, Chairman and Managing director of Metro in Viet Nam said.
The fact VietGAP-certified seafood was distributed by Metro will encourage domestic consumption of safe and traceable seafood products, Truong Dinh Hoe, General Secretary of VASEP commented.