Vietnam Agriculture - Weekly Summary (18 - 24 February 2019)

Nieuwsbericht | 25-02-2019 | 09:22

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

Aquaculture:

This year, residents in Ngu Dien area in Phong Dien District, Thua Thien Hue Province, farmed about 400 hectares of shrimp. The average productivity was estimated at 25-30 tons of shrimp/hectare. About 70-80% of farming households earned profit with an average from VND100 million to over VND1 billion.

In general, the shrimp crop prepared for the Lunar New Year (which occurred at the beginning of February) met people's expectations because of its high productivity and stable prices.

In the process of breeding, shrimp farmers in Ngu Dien area especially had high awareness and comply with the regulations of the authorities on environmental sanitation, breed selection, quality of shrimp feed, and farming calendar.

Most farmers in the communes of Phong Hai, Dien Hoa, Dien Loc, Dien Huong and Dien Mon had a successful shrimp crop this year. From days near the Lunar New Year holiday until now, 2,000 tons of commercial shrimp in this region were bought and sold to the Central and Northern provinces.

Processing, Import and Export:

For years, Vietnam has maintained its leading position in supplying shrimp to Japan thanks to its advantages over other shrimp sources in the Japanese market. The ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership (AJCEP), and the Vietnam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (VJEPA) especially help create the most favorable conditions for tariffs on Vietnamese seafood exported to Japan. The AJCEP took effect from the first day of December in 2008; soon after that, shrimp products from Vietnam exported to Japan were entitled to a 0% tax rate. The VJEPA, on the other hand, was effective from the first day of October in 2009.

On January 14, 2019, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) officially started, which benefits Vietnamese shrimp exported to Japan. It is expected that in 2019, shrimp export from Vietnam to Japan will achieve a 2-digit growth compared to in 2018.

Livestock:

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, over the past few days, African swine fever virus has appeared in Hung Yen Province and Thai Binh Province.

Professional agencies and local authorities have been destroying pigs that are infected with the virus. At the same time, farmers are cleaning and spraying disinfectants continuously in areas with the outbreaks and high-risk areas.

With a complicated development of African swine fever virus, on February 20, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc issued Directive No. 04/CT-TTg on synchronous implementation of urgent solutions to control this epidemic nationwide.

Plantation:

Provinces in the Mekong Delta begin to harvest the winter-spring rice crop in over 1.6 million hectares. However, the price of rice is continuously declining with difficult consumption output. This situation makes farmers concerned.

80,000 tons of grains and 200,000 tons of rice will be purchased for national reserve in 2019 to support households in resolving this situation of low rice price.

Although 2018 is the second year in a row Vietnam's rice export has increased in volume and in price, it is forecasted that the price of Vietnamese rice will decline in 2019 to be able to compete with other large rice exporters.

Fruits:

The Plant Protection Department of Vietnam and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the U.S. (APHIS) held a ceremony to announce the export of Vietnamese fresh mango to the U.S. market.

After nearly 10 years, Vietnamese mango has completed all procedures required to be exported to the U.S.

This is the sixth fruit of Vietnam, after dragon fruit, rambutan, longan, lychee and star apple, allowed to be exported to the U.S. market.

Farmers, Agriculture, Countryside:

After the Lunar New Year holiday, in Ba Ria City, Long Dien District and Long Son Commune (Vung Tau City), farmers are harvesting salt. Traders also wait to buy salt right at the field. This year, salt farmers are delighted because right after the Lunar New Year, salt has high yield. The price of salt also reaches a record level in the last 5 years; it is currently at VND 1.1 million/ton.

Particularly for salt farming on tarpaulin canvas, farmers have 30-40% higher yield with the price of salt at VND1.4 million/ton. Despite the profit, salt production requires a large investment of VND40-50 million for each 1,000 square meters.

Living and Environment:

According to statistics, currently, Bach Ma National Park has 6 to 8 troops of red-shanked douc langur, the "Queen of primates" as called by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). There are 3 troops with 13 to 15 douc each; and the remaining has 3 to 5 individuals each. They often appear near the area of Bao An Villa within the park.

The frequent occurrence and significant increase of the red-shanked douc in Bach Ma National Park in particular, and in Thua Thien Hue Province in general, is a positive signal. They demonstrate that the nature conservation work in the park is well developed.