Aquaculture farmers find going tough

However, the news is not all good for many farmers who can't get loans and have been forced to temporarily stop production. The price of tra fish has also dropped and the price of feed risen in the same period.

According to Vu Van Tam, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), export turnover in 1991 was $1.2 billion. In 2011 the figure had jumped to $6.1 billion.

Tam said in June this year, Viet Nam earned $550 million from seafood exports. This brought export turnover for the first six months to a remarkable $2.9 billion, an increase of 10.6 percent against the same period last year.

Nguyen Ngoc Oai, director general of the Department of Aqua Products Exploitation and Protection attributed the success to fishing units set up by fishermen.

"Since the new model was introduced last July, more than 2,400 fishing units have been established", said Oai.

However, the economic downturn in Europe has had a serious impact on Vietnamese aqua-product enterprises. The number of enterprises involved in export activities dropped 40 per cent in the first six months.

In addition, the export price of a kilo of tra fish has dropped to VND20,000 ($0.95) from VND22,000 ($1.05). Meanwhile the price of fish feed has increased by about 10 per cent (VND 23,000-25,000/kg).

This has cost farmers about VND5,000 a kilo and forced up to 60 per cent of households rearing tra fish in the Mekong Delta to temporarily stop production.

Duong Nghia Quoc, director of Dong Thap Province's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said part of the problem was a lack of capital investment.

"It is estimated that more than 80 per cent of tra fish farmers need cash, but high interest rates and a shortage of loan has hampered them," Quoc said.

Due to the shortage of capital, many Vietnamese enterprises are forced to lower the selling price of tra fillet from $3 to $2.6, making survival difficult.

Nguyen Danh Hien, director of the Minh Phu Aqua Product Company in Kien Giang Province said he needed about VND1 billion to raise one hectare of shrimps. However, he could only borrow up to VND30 million because he didn't have much collateral.

When he approached a bank for credit, he was told shrimp raising was too risky and banks didn't want to loan money.

To help farmers overcome difficulties, the Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) has asked the Government to urgently loan VND4,400 billion ($214.6 million) to tra fish farmers and VND6,000 billion ($293 million) to shrimp farmers.

VASEP wants the Government to levy an interest rate of less than 10 per cent a year. Deputy Minister Tam said MARD would do its best to attract more investment from the foreign direct investment (FDI) sector.