Bac Lieu (VNA) – The Mekong Delta province of BacLieu is rolling out measures to turn it into a shrimp production hub of thecountry, said Deputy Secretary Party Committee and Chairman of the People’sCommittee of the province Duong Thanh Trung.

The provincial leader said that Bac Lieu aims to take thelead in high technology research and application in shrimp industry, focusingon prawn seeds and commercial shrimp production and processing.

Bac Lieu expects to lure investment and resources to createmomentum to promote the national shrimp industry and supporting sectors inother nearby localities and the whole country.

The locality aims to produce 32-35 billion prawn fry in 2020and about 40-45 billion prawn fry in 2025, with higher quality through years.

In 2025, shrimp farming area will be expanded to 147,900hectares with an expected output of 249,000 tonnes. More than 30 percent ofproducers and businesses, and nine farming regions with total area of 3,890hectares are hoped to use high technology in production, while 30 percent aresubjected to meet VietGAP, GlobalGAP and ASC standards.

In 2020, the volume of processed shrimps is expected toreach 98,300 tonnes in 2020 and 120,000 tonnes in 2025, while the export volumeis hoped to fetch 73,000 tonnes in 2020 and 90,000 tonnes in 2025.

The province is working towards 100 percent of processedshrimps meeting the standards of the NationalAgro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality AssuranceDepartment (NAFIQAD) as well as the requirements of the world and importcountries. In 2025, the capacity of local shrimp processing sector is meant to reach160,000 tonnes to take the leading position in the country in processingtechnology.

The cost for the implementation of the scheme is 3 trillionVND (nearly 130 million USD), nearly a half of which comes from the centralState budget and 34.22 percent is mobilised from local producers andbusinesses.

According to Trung, the province will focus on attractingall resources, including mobilised and foreign-invested capital for the sector,with the focus on optimising foreign investment.

Meanwhile, the province will increase investment promotionactivities and enhance its provincial competitiveness index to lure moreinvestors, he said. He added that Bac Lieu will organise investment promotionconference in local, regional and national levels.

Alongside, the province will maintain and expand traditionalmarkets of Japan, the US, the EU, China and the Republic of Korea, whileexploring more markets in Asia, East Europe, Africa, and South America. Thelocality will strengthen the capacity in market forecasting and updaterequirements in import market to support local producers, said Trung.

He said that Bac Lieu will consider the direct supply ofshrimp to retail system in import countries instead of through importers, whileencouraging and supporting local businesses to register their brand names andpromote their products in association with the promotion of Bac Lieu shrimptrademark.

At the same time, Bac Lieu will focus on training highquality human resources for the sector, including high technology officials whoinvolve in fisheries sector management. Workers for high technology productionin shrimp industry will also be trained, focusing on shrimp fry production,commercial shrimp farming, and shrimp processing. Personnel in marketforecasting and promotion will also be trained.

The province will also promote the transfer of hightechnology through fishery production companies and processors in the locality.

Bac Lieu will attract high-tech human resources with deepunderstanding on market and economic management to engage in production, while givingpreferential policies to lure high-profile researchers, engineers and managersserving the production, exploitation, processing and exporting of aquaticproducts, stated Trung./.