Urgent restoration of shrimp farming areas

(Baonghean) -Shrimp farmers in flood-affected areas are “getting back up” and urgently treating the environment, renovating ponds… to restore production. The biggest difficulty for shrimp farmers now is the lack of capital, because billions of dong have been swept away by floodwaters…

The flood has passed for nearly half a month, the lives of people in Hoang Mai town and Quynh Luu district are gradually stabilizing again. In the shrimp ponds, the atmosphere is still gloomy. Many people have started to treat the environment, renovate the ponds to restore production. While pumping water out of the pond, Mr. Nguyen Huu Thanh (Block 6, Quynh Xuan Ward, Hoang Mai Town) sadly said: The recent flood has caused the family's 6,500m2 of shrimp farming to be lost, causing a loss of more than 100 million VND. It's so sad, because the first crop was not profitable, and this crop continued to have no harvest, so the debt is piling up. There is no other way, I am determined to raise the third crop, hoping to salvage some of it to have money to pay off the debt.

Due to being flooded, people's ponds are covered with thick mud, the water in the pond is sweetened. Mr. Thanh has to use a pump to pump all the water out. It is expected that it will take about half a month to complete the renovation of his family's pond. First, all the water is pumped out, then all the soil in the pond is scooped out and the pond is washed. Next, the pond will be exposed to the sun for about a week, then lime powder will be spread to treat the environment. When the saltwater source is suitable, he will take in water and apply Cloramin to kill bacteria and buy shrimp to release. It is expected that the cost of renovating Mr. Thanh's family's pond will cost about 20 million VND. Mr. Thanh shared: The biggest difficulty in raising shrimp this season is that it is the cold season, so the shrimp grow slowly, by the end of the season they only reach about 150 - 200 shrimp/kg. Seawater at this time is often sweet, so it is necessary to calculate when the tide is high to take it into the pond. If the salinity is not suitable, the shrimp will have difficulty growing.

People of Mai Hung ward (Hoang Mai town) collect water hyacinth after flood water recedes to clean up ponds.

Mr. Nguyen Van Lien's family (Block 6, Quynh Xuan Ward, Hoang Mai Town) has a 4,500m2 shrimp pond, which was submerged by floodwaters, causing a loss of more than 200 million VND. Although they are in debt to the bank and owe money for feed from dealers, the family still decided to borrow money from relatives and friends to release shrimp for the third crop. "This crop costs less than previous crops because the cold weather makes the shrimp eat less, there is less electricity for fans, but the shrimp grow slowly. At this time, shrimp prices are high, so my family decided to raise shrimp to recover some of the capital lost in the recent flood," Mr. Thanh confided.

In Quynh Bang commune, Mr. Hoang Xuan Kinh in Mai Giang hamlet is also urgently renovating ponds to stock the new crop. As one of the experienced shrimp farmers, Mr. Kinh believes that shrimp farmers should treat their ponds as soon as possible. Therefore, immediately after the flood receded, he hired workers to urgently clean up the ponds and treat the water source. “Recently, my family had 2 hectares of shrimp farming, but all were lost, causing a loss of more than 700 million VND. For more than a week now, I have hired workers to pump water, clean the ponds and take advantage of the sunny weather to dry the bottom. I have contacted the seed company and will buy about 800,000 shrimp. If the weather is favorable, I will stock the new crop in about a week. This season, Chinese traders are rushing to find goods, so my family is still bold in raising shrimp. Hopefully this season will be successful to make up for the previous season.

However, not many shrimp farmers have the conditions and boldness like Mr. Kinh, Mr. Lien, Mr. Thanh... Because the flood water has swept away billions of dong of shrimp farmers. Mr. Dau Huy Ha (Block 10, Mai Hung Ward, Hoang Mai Town) said: My family has more than 5000m²The shrimp pond had been raised for 70 days with a weight of 50 shrimp/kg, but before it could be sold, the flood washed it all out to sea, causing a loss of about 1.2 billion VND. Currently, my family still owes hundreds of millions of VND for shrimp feed, and now I don’t know where to get it to pay. After the flood, I only cleaned the pond and repaired the machinery. Although I know that raising the third crop has the potential to bring in a lot of profit, I am powerless.

Mr. Nguyen Van Trinh, block 6, Quynh Xuan ward also sadly said: Now I want to continue raising shrimp, but where can I get the capital to invest? In the first crop, selling all the shrimp in the pond, the family only made a profit of more than 100 million VND, all of which was invested in the second crop and lost everything. Now if we can borrow capital, the family is determined to continue raising shrimp, but if we don't have the capital, we will have to leave the pond to wait until next year's shrimp crop," Mr. Trinh confided.

To support shrimp farmers, the Hoang Mai Town government is providing 56.4 tons of Cloramin to treat ponds. At the same time, the town is summarizing the damage to submit to the Provincial People's Committee for support according to Decision No. 35 dated July 8, 2013 on supporting plant varieties, livestock, and aquatic products to restore production in areas damaged by natural disasters and epidemics. Accordingly, support is 30 million VND/ha for damage over 70% of the area, 20 million VND for damage from 30-70% of the area. However, what makes people worried is that the above support level is not suitable for practical circumstances because the value of each shrimp pond is different. Mr. Nguyen Van Trinh said: There are ponds where shrimp reach 50-60 shrimp/kg, priced at about 200,000 VND/kg, but there are ponds where shrimp have been released for only 30 days, priced at less than 100,000 VND/kg. It would be unfair to level the support based on the damaged area. Most shrimp farmers are borrowing money from banks, so we really hope that the banks will postpone or extend the debt.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dinh, Head of the Department of Agriculture of Quynh Luu district, said: After the recent flood, more than 240 hectares of shrimp farming in Quynh Luu district were flooded and lost, mainly concentrated in Quynh Bang, Quynh Thanh, and Quynh Luong communes. To restore production, the district has directed people to quickly clean up and sanitize the environment inside and outside the shrimp ponds. For damaged shrimp areas, the district also directed people to focus on cleaning ponds, spreading lime, and spraying disinfectants to resume farming. However, autumn-winter shrimp farming faces many unfavorable factors and high risks due to complex weather fluctuations and unusual rains and floods. From now until the end of the year, the amplitude and temperature difference between day and night is very large, not suitable for shrimp growth, but suitable for pathogens to develop, especially white spot disease. Therefore, the district recommends that only households with conditions should release shrimp and need to properly implement the instructed technical measures to achieve positive results.

Article and photos:Pham Bang