Many shrimp farmers in Nghe An lost hundreds of millions due to early season disease.

Quynh Bang Commune (Quynh Luu) has more than 186 hectares of white-leg shrimp farming concentrated in Mai Giang 1 village, Trinh Mon farm... According to records, up to this point, people here have released over 80% of the pond area, but dozens of hectares have had to be completely re-treated to release the new crop due to disease.

Mr. Vu Van Duong - Vice Chairman of Quynh Bang Commune People's Committee said that never before had farmers faced such difficulties in the first crop of shrimp as they do now. At the beginning of the crop, there were consecutive shrimp diseases; a household in Trinh Mon Farm discovered white spot disease in 0.5 hectares of shrimp. After that, many other households also had shrimp infected with the disease and had to re-treat all of them to raise the new crop.

Symptoms of slow growth of shrimp after 2 months of farming and dozens of hectares of shrimp in the first crop in Quynh Luu had to be treated to continue farming. Photo: Viet Hung

According to statistics from the People's Committee of Quynh Bang commune, the locality currently has about 25 - 30 hectares of shrimp affected by disease, of which 0.5 hectares are affected by white spot shrimp; the remaining shrimp are slow to grow due to disease, causing hundreds of millions of dong in damage. For example, households of Mr. Nguyen Khac Duc, Ho Thai Hung, Ho Dinh Dao... all raise 2 ponds, each pond is 3,000 - 5,000 m²; after 2-3 months of farming, the shrimp should be almost ready for harvest, but they are still not big, only the size of small shrimp. If calculating the loss of breed and feed costs, each household lost over 100 million VND.

In the shrimp farming area in An Hoa commune (Quynh Luu), although people here release shrimp later, they still cannot avoid disease. Many households invested tens of millions of dong, but now all the care work is lost. Mr. Nguyen Van Trang is one of the households with a fairly methodical shrimp farming process, but this shrimp release season also encountered disadvantages due to shrimp disease.

According to Mr. Trang, in early March, his family started raising 26,000 shrimp fry in pond number 1 for incubation, and when the shrimps grew bigger, they would be put in other ponds. However, after nearly a month of raising and following the care process, the shrimps still did not grow. About 15 days later, he continued to buy fry to raise in the hope of recouping the investment capital...

Mr. Nguyen Van Trang, a shrimp farmer in An Hoa commune (Quynh Luu) checks the pond and adds food to prevent disease for the shrimp. Photo: Viet Hung

“We have been raising shrimp for many years, but this is the most difficult season for farmers. When we released the shrimp, the weather was sunny and favorable for shrimp growth, but recently, the erratic cold rain has changed the environment, causing the shrimp to get sick and grow slowly. Not only my family but many surrounding households have also lost about 60-70 million VND in seeds and expenses,” said Mr. Trang.

The entire Quynh Luu district has 460 hectares of shrimp farming concentrated in the communes of Quynh Thanh, Quynh Minh, Quynh Luong, Quynh Bang, An Hoa... As of April 14, the total area of ​​shrimp farming affected by disease and slow growth is about 35 hectares, mainly concentrated in the two communes of Quynh Bang and An Hoa. It is known that in addition to the impact of the weather, the causes of slow growth of shrimp are poor quality food, insufficient nutrition; weak breed; shrimp infected with stunting disease; white feces infection, especially high stocking density is also the cause of slow growth of shrimp.

Shrimp farmers must be proactive when entering the shrimp farming season, because this is the season that determines the productivity, output and economy of the whole year. When the weather is favorable, farmers will release the shrimp; implement good disease prevention measures for shrimp in the pond, increase minerals and vitamins to ensure the shrimp's resistance. For ponds with shrimp disease, farmers are required to treat the environment according to the process, not releasing it into the outside environment to limit the spread of disease to other shrimp farming areas...

Mr. Bui Xuan Truc - Deputy Head of Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quynh Luu district

In Hoang Mai town, at the beginning of the shrimp release season, some farming areas in Quynh Xuan and Quynh Lien wards also had shrimp disease.

Mr. Hoang Ngoc Thuy - Head of the Economic Department of Hoang Mai town said that to ensure a successful shrimp farming season, in addition to choosing to buy quality shrimp seeds, the town recommends that people pay attention to planting according to the seasonal schedule.

Not only the disease, shrimp farmers have also recently suffered a decrease in profits because the price of commercial shrimp has decreased by about 20% compared to before.