Vietnam Agriculture - Weekly Summary (2 - 8 July 2018)

Nieuwsbericht | 09-07-2018 | 06:11

A weekly summary of agriculture development and production in Vietnam by VietLinh online

Aquaculture:

From monoculture with only black tiger prawn and many potential risks, households in Quang Dien District, Thua Thien Hue Province have switched to polyculture. Of which, models farming black tiger prawn with mullet, crab, and white-spotted rabbitfish have shown positive, sustainable results. The models reduce diseases in farming and bring high income to farmers.

From a successful pilot, polyculture was rapidly expanded throughout Quang Dien. In 2017, the district had 674.71 hectare of aquaculture. Of which, 648.35 hectares, or 96% of the district’s total farming area, applied polyculture models with black tiger prawn, mullet, crab, and white-spotted rabbitfish.

According to evaluation from farming households, in addition to bringing stable economic benefits, polyculture also helps create a sustainable pond environment for shrimp and fish.

Processing, Import and Export:

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), seafood export in the first half of this year reached nearly $4 billion, up 12.3% over the same period last year. Shrimp, Tra fish and tuna were still the three main export items with a total value at nearly $3 billion.

In particular, shrimp export had the largest value at more than $1.6 billion. Tra fish export continued to thrive since the beginning of the year, reaching nearly $1 billion in the first half of the year. This figure from Tra fish was an increase of 21% over the same period last year and the strongest increase in all types of seafood.

Livestock:

Since the past few days, the weather has been particularly hot with outside temperature reaching 40-44 degrees Celsius. The unfavorable weather has caused hardships for cattle and poultry care in Hanoi. Suburban farmers have applied a variety of measures to protect their animals against heat and avoid damages.

Hanoi has more than 28 million poultry and waterfowl. The number of pigs is 1.65 million, of buffaloes is 25,000, of cows is 140,000, including about 15,700 dairy cows. In addition to industrial-scale development, small-scale production is still popular with limited farming facilities and conditions. Thus, extreme hot weather these days is a major challenge for the livestock industry in Hanoi.

Plantation:

Purple yam from Long An Province is not only supplied to the domestic market. It has gradually entered difficult markets such as Japan and the EU.

Compared to the previous small demand, since the last three years, purple yam has been consumed in large quantities. Both types of purple yam with white and purple colors bring high yields and profits.

Up to this point, purple yam in Thanh Hoa District, Long An Province has a stable output to supply to focal traders in domestic provinces. It has appeared in large supermarket chains in the country. Purple yam farmers also receive orders for large quantities from Japan and China.

Long An Province has over 3,000 hectares of purple yam, mainly concentrated in Thanh Hoa District. The total yield in the province is 56 kilograms of purple yam/hectare. If the average price of yam is from VND15,000 to 16,000/kilogram, the profit can be up to VND150 to 200 million/hectare. With this stable price, Long An Province can develop an area specializing in purple yam farming that can be doubled to 6,000 hectare in the near future.

Fruits:

Star apple is one of the key crops of Tien Giang Province. The fruit is very popular in the domestic and foreign markets. Especially after star apple was exported to the United States, more and more people have invested in growing and restoring star apple gardens. In the past few years, the area of star apple has declined sharply due to many objective and subjective reasons. Therefore, in order to revive the fruit, the agricultural industry and growers need to carry out synchronous solutions.

According to the agriculture sector, in 2011, the area of star apple farming in Tien Giang Province was nearly 4,000 hectares, including 3,000 hectares with trees bearing fruits. The productivity was over 22.5 tons/hectare, and the total yield of star apple was over 63,000 tons.

In recent years, the total area of star apple has declined dramatically. By the end of May, 2018, this area has only about 436 hectares left, including 390 hectares with trees bearing fruits.

Farmers, Agriculture, Countryside:

The Central Voting Council has selected 85 high-quality agricultural products and trademarks. They were awarded the prize "Vietnam Gold Farming Brand" in 2018 at the national level. In addition, 79 brand names won the prize "Vietnam Gold Farming Brand" in 2018 at the provincial level with prospect to be "Vietnam Gold Farming Brand" in 2019 at the national level.

The Vietnam Gold Farming Brand was initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the General Council of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI).

Typical names honored this year include: "Vineco," a trademark of Vineco Agricultural Investment Development and Production JSC with clean vegetables and fruits; "Lam Thao Fertilizer" brand, or "Binh Dien Fertilizer" brand.