Aiming to Become High-Quality Shrimp Seed Center

Leveraging its natural advantages, strategic geographical location, and pristine marine environment, Ninh Thuan is endowed with many favorable conditions for shrimp seed production. Capitalizing on these benefits, the province has emerged as a national hub for shrimp seed production, supplying 40-50 billion shrimp seeds annually, thereby meeting 35-40% of the country’s demand. The “Ninh Thuan Shrimp Seed” trademark has also been granted protection by the National Intellectual Property Office (Ministry of Science and Technology).

Mr. Le Van Que, Chairman of  Ninh Thuan Association of Aquatic Seed Producers

Combining potential advantages

A 105-km long coastline with one of 18 rare coastal upwelling points in the world, a wide territorial sea and good-quality sea water with stable salinity are favorable conditions for Ninh Thuan province to develop shrimp seed production. Another advantage is most shrimp seed producers in the province have worked in the industry for a long time and had qualified, skilled workforces. Knowing that natural conditions, nursery technology and broodstock genetic resources are three decisive factors of shrimp seed quality, procedures are always concerned about investing in modern facilities and equipment, speeding up scientific and technological research and application to shrimp production like water treatment technology powered by ultraviolet (UV) ray- integrated ultrafiltration systems, ozone technology and biotechnology to manage and control water quality, disease and breed health. In particular, antibiotics and toxic chemicals are completely eliminated during the nursery process. In addition, some facilities have combined and applied BMP, VietGap, Global GAP and OIE standards into the breed quality control and management system.

At the same time, domestic shrimp broodstock domestication has also achieved positive results, enabling businesses to focus their resources and cooperation in research and application in production practices. The implementation of Decree 26/2019/ND-CP of the Government on some articles and measures for enforcement of the Fisheries Law at shrimp hatcheries in the province is serious and strict to help ensure biosecurity, disease safety and environmental protection.

Regarding policies, shrimp seed production is always promptly supported and directed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Directorate of Fisheries and related bodies. On the local side, shrimp seed production is regarded by Ninh Thuan as one of the important and strategic economic sectors of the province. Thus, it receives continuous investment for scale development and quality improvement. According to the resolution of the 14th Provincial Party Congress (2020-2025 term), Ninh Thuan will be developed into a national high-quality shrimp seed production center. The agriculture sector has announced its development planning to call for investment capital and seek investment resources for building synchronous and complete infrastructure for An Hai high-tech aquatic seed production areas and Son Hai high-tech broodstock production areas.

Leaders from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development pay a working visit to Ninh Thuan to assess disease-free shrimp farming practices, ensuring sustainable aquaculture

Clearing bottlenecks

Nonetheless, shrimp seed production in Ninh Thuan province is still facing numerous difficulties and challenges such as the limited supply of domesticated black tiger shrimp parents and the lack of supply diversity. Poor infrastructure in production areas gives rise to difficulties in water supply, drainage, transportation, wastewater collection and treatment, and difficulties in environmental control in concentrated aquatic seed production areas. Shrimp seed producers find it hard to access preferential credit sources. Furthermore, shrimp seeds are a special type of commodity because they must be sold and cannot be stored when they reach age. If they cannot be sold, they must be disposed of, causing enormous damage to producers.

In the context of advantages and disadvantages coming at the same time, the Ninh Thuan Association of Aquatic Seed Producers has actively coordinated with local authorities to propagate and encourage its members to comply with legal regulations, strengthen shrimp seed quality control at production facilities, strictly monitor weather developments, and closely follow market demands to have responsive production plans.

According to the project of building Ninh Thuan into a high-quality shrimp seed production center of the country, Ninh Thuan will strive to produce 50 billion shrimp seeds by 2025 and proactively produce 30% of domesticated white-legged shrimp broodstocks and 40% of domesticated black tiger shrimp broodstocks which are of high quality and specific pathogen free, thus continuing to supply high-quality commercial shrimp seeds for the shrimp country and contributing to the strong development of Vietnam's shrimp industry. To achieve these goals, the association recommended continuing to strengthen strict management and control of imported shrimp broodstock quality. For locally domesticated shrimp broodstocks, it is necessary to conduct periodical testing/post-testing to check and assess the quality of broodstock. There is also a need to strengthen management, inspection and supervision to mandate the application of biosafety procedures in hatcheries; accelerate research into new diseases such as TPD and provide treatment measures; and publish a list of qualified shrimp disease testing laboratories.

Mr. Le Huyen, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee at a working session with Ninh Thuan Association of Aquatic Seed Producers

Mr. Le Van Que, Chairman of the Ninh Thuan Association of Aquatic Seed Producers, said that the cooperation of local shrimp seed producers has initially been formed and many new shrimp farming models and technologies have been successfully applied with high economic efficiency. However, in the coming time, there is still a need for solutions, coordination mechanisms and closer cooperation between farming areas and shrimp seed production areas. Provinces should make statistics on their shrimp seed demands before each farming season and promptly inform shrimp seed producers to ensure the supply of enough quality shrimp seeds. At the same time, it is important to closely coordinate relevant stakeholders to strictly handle counterfeit packaging labels and brands. To deal with difficult access to capital sources, the government needs to introduce mechanisms to support shrimp seed producers in accessing loans with preferential interest rates as well as consider promulgating support policies to partially reduce testing and quarantine fees.

He said, as one of the largest shrimp seed production centers in the country, over the past decades, Ninh Thuan province has constantly tried to arrange its very valuable coastal land area to maintain and develop shrimp seed production, thus creating a source of high-quality shrimp seeds for commercial shrimp farming in the whole country. “However, Ninh Thuan has not received any investment support from the central government in building infrastructure systems. For that reason, we sincerely hope that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will consider and support funds for building synchronous and complete infrastructure for concentrated shrimp seed production areas to help Ninh Thuan province have a strong and sustainable aquatic seed production industry. When central and provincial governments plan systematic and complete infrastructure investment, it will attract many domestic and foreign customers and experts to visit and experience existing models, helping promote local specific products and develop the Ninh Thuan tourism industry,” he emphasized.

By Duc Binh, Vietnam Business Forum