Southernmost Ca Mau Province is striving to earn US$2 billion from shrimp exports by 2020, nearly doubling last year’s export revenue.

Under a project to boost the shrimp industry, the province aimed at expanding shrimp raising farms to 280,000ha by 2020, with total output of 280,000 tonnes.

By 2030, the shrimp raising areas would no longer be expanded, but productivity would be improved from one tonne per hectare per year to 1.48 tonnes, which would help boost total output to 415,000 tonnes. Shrimp export revenue was expected to reach $3 billion by 2030.

According to Nguyen Tien Hai, chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, Ca Mau Province had great potential to boost shrimp production due to an intertwined river system.

However, shrimp production in Ca Mau Province was heavily dependent on the weather, and there were insufficient measures to mitigate the negative impact of national disasters, especially droughts, flood tides and landslides, which were becoming more severe due to climate change, Hai said.

In addition, shrimp production remained scattered and lacked comprehensive planning, and the province faced a shortage of funds for investing in infrastructure.

The province plans to encourage farmers to apply modern and environmentally-friendly farming technologies in raising shrimps and enhancing links with firms to increase value.

Ca Mau is the largest shrimp producer in Viet Nam with output of more than 145,000 tonnes last year, accounting for 23 per cent of the country’s total shrimp output and 32 per cent of the Cuu Long (Mekong) River Delta’s production. The province has 34 processing plants with total capacity of 150,000 tonnes per yearCa Mau’s shrimp export was estimated at more than $167 million in the first quarter of this year.

Viet Nam’s shrimp export value reached $3.1 billion in 2016 and was expected to touch $3.4 billion this year. Viet Nam planned to boost shrimp export revenue by $10 billion by 2025. – VNS