Shrimp farmers in Ben Tre, Tra Vinh, Soc Trang and Kien Giang provinces are nervous as their shrimp keep dying because of drought and saltwater intrusion up rivers. — Photo thoidai.com.vn

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — Severe drought in the Mekong Delta has badly affected agriculture and aquaculture, threatening a scarcity of raw materials for seafood exports.

Shrimp farmers in Ben Tre, Tra Vinh, Soc Trang and Kien Giang provinces are nervous as their shrimp keep dying because of drought and saltwater intrusion up rivers.

"Shrimp farming is so risky," Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon) newspaper quoted Le Minh Hung, a farmer in Binh Dai District, Ben Tre, as saying. "I have spent VND70 million (US$3,100) on two hectares of shrimp within a month but now they are all dead."

Nguyen Van Dai, deputy chairman of My Long Nam Commune in Tra Vinh's Cau Ngang District, lamented: "Shrimp farming in our commune is facing a very serious challenge. This year, farmers have just farmed 300ha out of a total of 910ha of shrimp, but 25 per cent of the shrimp have died of disease."

Tran Quang Cui, deputy director of the Kien Giang Province Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said, "Before the bad weather arrived, the department sent workers to measure salinity and it was over 30 per cent.

"We couldn't feed shrimp at that time. We should wait for rain to feed the shrimp."

Oysters in the delta have also been decimated by the heat, high salinity and pollution.

"Oysters have started dying in our commune, and we have to harvest now to avoid [further] loss," Khong Van Lenh of Bao Thuan commune in Ben Tre's Ba Tri District, said.

The severe weather is worrying seafood exporters since the farming area has been significantly reduced, and they are finding it very hard to source shrimp.

"The bad weather will reduce fisheries production and so exports will fall," said Ngo Thanh Linh, general secretary of the Ca Mau Province Seafood Processing and Exporting Association.

He expected processing plants to run at only 50–60 per cent capacity and the province's exports to be around only US$1 billion against a target of US$1.2 billion.The drought and salinity have also hit catfish farming, which was already in a bad state due to long-term low prices.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, fisheries exports to date this year have risen 8.2 per cent to US$1.1 billion, but the year's target of US$7.1 billion will be hard to achieve. — VNS