Nghe An shrimp farmers suffer losses due to Covid-19 epidemic

Shrimp prices drop sharply

Mr. Ho Mau Toan - owner of a shrimp pond in Dong Van hamlet, Quynh Bang commune (Quynh Luu) said that he has been raising shrimp for 21 years since 2000, but has never seen a loss like the past 2 years.

According to Mr. Toan, the reason for the loss is due to polluted water sources, causing shrimp to often get sick and grow slowly; along with high input prices, along with the impact ofCovid-19 epidemiccausing shrimp prices to drop from 120,000 to 70,000 - 80,000 VND/kg.

Shrimp farmers in Quynh Luu district are suffering losses due to the sharp drop in shrimp prices. Photo: Xuan Hoang

"The surrounding ponds are abandoned because families have finished harvesting the second crop, but they lost money so they stopped farming. Like previous years, at this time people focus on treating the ponds and preparing for the third crop, but now very few people invest in farming," said Mr. Ho Mau Toan.

Mr. Nguyen Khac Tri in Chi Thanh hamlet, Quynh Bang commune added: His family contracted 1 hectare of shrimp farming land from the commune since 2016, in which there were years when it brought in quite a profit. However, in the past 2 years, his family has failed because the shrimp often got sick, the cost of animal feed increased, and the price of shrimp decreased sharply. The complicated development of the Covid-19 epidemic will affect the price of shrimp, so the family does not dare to invest.shrimp farmingnext time

Many shrimp farming areas in Hoang Mai town, Quynh Luu district are left unused after the second shrimp harvest. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Quynh Bang is one of the localities with the largest shrimp farming area in Quynh Luu district. Mr. Vu Van Duong - Chairman of Quynh Bang Commune People's Committee shared: Unlike the previous period when shrimp made people rich, now shrimp farmers are facing many difficulties. In 2020 and the first 6 months of 2021, in general, most shrimp farmers in the commune are losing money.

According to Mr. Bui Xuan Truc - Deputy Head of Department of Agriculture and Rural DevelopmentQuynh Luu districtAccording to the recommendation of the professional agency, each year only raise 1 crop of shrimp, but for many years now people have invested carefully in ponds, so people raise 3 crops/year. However, this year due to the sharp drop in shrimp prices, shrimp farmers have lost capital. Therefore, it is expected that in this second crop of shrimp, Quynh Luu district will only have about 300 hectares out of a total of 465 hectares of ponds for shrimp farming in the whole district.

Many equipment for shrimp farming are scattered in ponds because shrimp farmers are not interested in farming due to the sharp drop in shrimp prices. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Hoang Mai Townis a locality with a shrimp farming area of ​​450 hectares, most of the shrimp farmers here are also losing money. Mr. Vu Xuan Luong - Deputy Head of the Economic Department of Hoang Mai town said that the main reason why shrimp farmers in the town are losing money is because the selling price of shrimp has decreased by 30 - 40% compared to before. The situation of shrimp prices decreasing has occurred since the Covid-19 epidemic from the beginning of 2020 until now.

Need to change shrimp farming process

Mr. Tran Xuan Hoc - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said: Currently, brackish water shrimp farming is mainly whiteleg shrimp, this type of shrimp is raised at high density in ponds. Therefore, to achieve high efficiency in whiteleg shrimp farming and reduce disease, shrimp farmers need to change the farming process.

Currently, most shrimp farmers in Nghe An have planned their ponds to be too large, making care and disease management difficult. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Firstly, the current pond area is often divided into 70% and 30%, meaning that the breeding pond occupies 70% and the reservoir pond occupies 30%, which is not suitable. It needs to be changed to 30% for the breeding pond and 70% for the reservoir pond, to ensure the environment for the water source.

Second, the current pond area is often too large, over 2,000m2, making it difficult to care for and difficult to handle when shrimp are infected. Therefore, it is necessary to plan ponds or tanks with an area of ​​less than 1,000m2, to facilitate care and disease management for shrimp.

Third, during the farming process, shrimp need to be transferred to the pond 3 times so that the shrimp can grow well in the new water environment.

Nghe An currently has 2,280 hectares of brackish shrimp farming. In the first 6 months of the year, shrimp farming output reached nearly 4,300 tons, an increase of 25.33% over the same period in 2020.