Oyster farmers in Nghe An suffer losses due to crop failure

Since March, oyster farmers have suffered losses due to the lack of harvest. On the river, a few households in An Hoa commune are sitting and removing oysters to sell. Photo by Viet Hung

During the hot season, oysters are a specialty farmed in river mouths and coastal estuaries and are popular with the locals. However, after Tet until now, people in An Hoa commune (Quynh Luu) only have a few households with oysters to harvest.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Luong in Tan An village, An Hoa commune said that at this time last year, oyster farmers were harvesting in full swing, with customers passing by stopping to buy dozens of kilos. But this year, most oyster farmers in the Mai Giang river basin have had a bad harvest.

To meet people's needs during the hot season, some people go to the beach to harvest more oysters. Due to scarcity, oyster intestines are currently priced at 130,000 - 150,000 VND/kg. Photo by Viet Hung.

"The family raises 5 oyster rafts, at this time only about 2 rafts are harvesting, but the yield is not as good as last year. Each day, only a few dozen oyster strings are scooped up to sell. Last year, on average, a farmer earned 5-7 million VND from 1 oyster raft, but this year the harvest is at most 1-2 million VND," said Ms. Luong.

An Hoa commune currently has dozens of households raising oysters on rafts on the river; oysters are raised for 10-12 months; usually after harvesting, people continue to release more oysters to raise, so there are always oysters to sell. During the harvest season, households raising many rafts earn tens of millions of dong per year.

Oysters are a specialty with many nutrients. Photo: Viet Hung

However, since March, oysters have been scarce, so the current selling price is from 130,000 - 150,000 VND/kg, sometimes up to 180,000 - 200,000 VND/kg, this selling price is 2 - 3 times higher than last year.

To earn more income, people in An Hoa, Quynh Tho and Son Hai communes have come to the beach to hunt for oysters. Although the exploitation is less than that of self-farming, people can still exploit 70-100 kg of oyster intestines every day, then distribute them to markets to serve people's needs.

Grilled oysters with scallion oil, a favorite summer dish for tourists. Photo courtesy

Ms. Ho Thi Minh, an oyster "hunter" in Quynh Tho commune, said that in hot weather, oysters are a favorite dish because they help cool the body and have many nutrients, so people take advantage of hunting for them to sell; on lucky days, they can earn from 300,000 to 500,000 VND.