(seafood.vasep.com.vn) According to Mr. Tran Dac Mau, head of the An Giang Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, raw pangasius prices have been increasing steadily since before the Lunar New Year in 2017 and currently quoted at a high price of VND24,500-25,000/kg.
However, the area of pangasius farming does not increase and the farmers are tending to link production, apply farming techniques by stocking fingerlings properly. At the same time, building the raw pangasius area with good quality and ensuring traceability which helps to increase profit for farmers.
Pangasius farming area in An Giang province in the first 5 months of 2017 was 566 ha (accounting for 69.1% of total aquaculture area) and down 3.1% year on year. Pangasius production in the first five months of this year totaled 120,800 MT, down 1.1% year on year.
If pond cost is not included, the price of raw fish was VND20,529/kg, down VND169/kg compared to the first phase (VND20,698/kg). In the first 5 months of 2017, pangasius seed production of An Giang Fisheries Breeding Center reached over 215 million pieces, up 7.5% year on year.
According to An Giang Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, commercial aquaculture farmers were aware of their responsibilities and interests in producing and consuming raw fish without the use of banned toxic antibiotics in aquaculture, and the application of GAP standards to ensure product quality. For sustainable pangasius farming with high efficiency, farmers have opted for low-density pangasius farming solutions.
At the same time, farmers also choose to apply integrated technical solutions to increase productivity and reduce production costs such as selecting high quality feed; reducing costs of sucking up the mud, costs of pumping water, costs of drugs and chemicals for disease prevention to increase profit from commercial pangasius farming.
An Giang province regularly inspects and issues certificates of commercial pangasius farming for businesses and households under production cooperation contracts. This is to help farming, processing and export of pangasius grow stable, avoid risks when the output increased sharply.
Compiled by Dieu Thuy