Fish bring together foreign importers and Vietnamese farmers

Some foreign importers have decided to join forces with Vietnamese farmers to develop clean fish farming projects. They believe that the projects will help bring Vietnam’s tra fish to many more places in the world.

In June 2010, 300 tons of tra fish from An Giang-based NTACO Company farmed in accordance with the internationally used management system for Good Agricultural Practice – Global GAP were sold to Binca Seafoods Vietnam, the European seafood distributor, at high prices. Recently, Mazzetta, the leading US seafood importer and distributor, has decided to cooperate with Proconco to carry out a clean fish farming project in An Giang province.

Pham Thi Hoa, Deputy Director of An Giang Department for Agriculture and Rural Development, has confirmed that the US Mazzetta Group and Proconco (a livestock feed producer in Vietnam) have sent staff to An Giang for field work and to choose places for the project on clean fish farming. According to Hoa, authorities have told project developers to submit a detailed plan for approval.

Tom Mazzetta, Chair of Mazzetta Group, noted that Proconco will be in charge of providing clean feed and supporting farmers in terms of aquaculture techniques and product processing. Mazzetta will then bring the products to consumers. It is expected that with the three-party project, Mazzetta will increase the volume of fish it collects from 600 tons to 1000 tons a month from 2011.

Bui Khuong Thoi, Chief Representative of Binca Seafoods Vietnam, the German seafood importer, pointed out that, since early 2009, Binca has joined forces with NTACO to build an initial tra fish farming area that meets Global GAP standards and covers an area of 35 hectares.

Binca has also invested two million dollars to help An Giang households farm fish with an output of 1200 tons per annum. The company is also working with Sinabico Company to breed black tiger fish, with an output of 2000 tons per annum. Thoi explained that the European market has set stricter requirements on seafood product quality, especially in terms of origin tracking. Therefore, Binca must transfer techniques and supervise the farming process before it collects fish to sell in Europe.

As such, not only Vietnamese enterprises, but also foreign importers must know the origin of their products if they want to sell them. This explains why they have arrived in Vietnam and joined forces with farmers to breed fish.

According to Ngo Phuoc Hau, Deputy Chair of Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), once foreign importers get involved in the fish material market, domestic processing enterprises must also invest in aquaculture. “If they do not make investment to develop material areas, they will not have materials to process,” Hau warned. “Moreover, once they do not know the origin of the fish, their products will not be accepted.”

To date, only a few domestic enterprises meet Global GAP standards. On June 10, 2010, two more An Giang companies received Global GAP certificates, including Viet An Seafood Joint Stock Company and An Giang Aquaculture Breeding Research Centre.

Truong Minh Giau, Deputy General Director of Viet An Company, admitted that the market has become more difficult and this has forced the company to make chances. According to Giau, the company has a long way to go before meeting the requirements of Global GAP. In return, however, the company will knows for certain that its products will be sellable.

According to Hau, enterprises have more advantages than farmers in developing material areas that can meet international standards.

Thoi observed that farmers can develop clean fish farming themselves, but will face difficulties if they cannot sign contracts to sell their fish. The cost of clean fish farming is higher by 20-25 percent than normal farming. Therefore, Hau argues that the best solution is to create a close association among involved parties – processing enterprises, farmers and feed suppliers

Saigon tiep thi

Tags: Vietnam fisheries