Attending the opening ceremony were the leaders of Can Tho City People's Committee, ICAFIS, Vietnam Fisheries Society, Vietnam Pangasius Association, Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development, scientists, enterprises, representatives of farmer households, seafood processing and exporting companies in Viet Nam and from other countries.
The fair was attended by more than 70 domestic and foreign companies which provide and introduce products for the production chain in the field of seafood from feeding, seeds, equipment, and farming technology to businesses, and farmers in Viet Nam.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Tran Thi Thu Ha, vice chairman of the Vietnam Fisheries Association, said that with a total water surface of over 1.7 million hectares, of which more than 1 million hectares were used for aquaculture, Viet Nam is one of the countries with high potential and comparative advantages in aquaculture development and towards the development of sustainable fisheries. However, Viet Nam’s aquaculture industry is still facing many challenges such as disease, environmental changes, shortage of skillfull labor, technology and brand name.
In order to tackle with these challenges, Viet Nam has been increasing its investment in developing highly yielding aquatic species, specially shrimp industry to maximize the development of shrimp farming which would facilitate the development of the entire aquaculture industry.
Currently, Viet Nam targets its seafood export value at US $ 11 billion, with the average growth rate of 7-8 per cent in the period 2011-2020. Additionally, fisheries output is targeted at around 7 million tons, of which fishing production would account for about 35 per cent and aquaculture production about 65 per cent.
According to Mr. Dao Anh Dung, Vice Chairman of Can Tho City People's Committee, the Aquaculture Vietnam 2017 is a chance for the agriculture and rural development sector of Can Tho City in particular and other provinces across the country in generally to introduce scientific and technological advances in aquaculture, fishing and preservation of aquatic products. At the same time, it is the opportunity for Viet Nam’s fisheries sector to promote the brand name, introduce seafood products and Viet Nam’s images to international delegates. This will create the motivation for Can Tho city and Mekong Delta provinces to develop their aquaculture, especially for tra fish farming and brackish water shrimp farming, focusing on improving the quality and value of products which would contribute positioning of Vietnamese seafood products in the world market.
During the fair, there were workshops organized which focused on 8 important issues such as status of aquatic seed production and supply, nutrient technology and feed in aquaculture, disease and environment control in aquaculture, advanced farming systems and technologies, socio-economic issues in aquaculture, the seafood trade situation in the world and Viet Nam, the current situation of pangasius (Tra fish) seed and other aquatic species (shrimp, lobster, abalone, mollusk, etc.) and marine species.
With the theme of “Aquaculture – Profitable and Sustainable Business”, Viet Nam Aquaculture 2017 attracted more than 4,000 participants from enterprises, farms, aquaculture households in 13 provinces in the Mekong Delta and other provinces.
Giáng Hương