PM asks to make catfish spearhead export item

An Giang (VNA) - Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung requested relevant ministries to
quickly work out a 'tra' and 'ba sa' farming and consumption plan to make the
catfish the nation's spearhead export line in the time to come.

The plan must be completed within 10 days, PM Dung said, stressing that 'tra' and
'ba sa' are important to the national economy, contributing 2 percent of the GDP and
32 percent of export turnover from aquatic products.

PM Dung made the request at his meeting in An Giang on Mar. 18 with officials from
the ministries of agriculture and rural development, industry and trade, finance,
the State Bank of Vietnam , and the Vietnam Seafood Exporters and Processors'
Association.

The meeting also brought together leaders of catfish breeding provinces and
businesses in the Mekong Delta.

The PM asked relevant ministries for developing catfish farming and processing into
a large-scale industry which shall ensure both international standards and
environmental protection requirements.

The PM also assigned the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to establish
a steering board to deal with problems that may arise from the farming and
consumption activities.

Ministry officials and local representatives shared the view that the catfish
farming is developing in a spontaneous manner and the linkage between producers and
consumers remain absent, sparking unhealthy competitions.

They proposed that breeders should be instructed to follow strict standards
regarding food hygiene, breed, feed, and waste water treatment while State
management agencies should improve their market forecasting capacity and help
breeders in promoting their products and calling for investment.

Catfish farming, using around 6,000 ha of water surface, equivalent to 1 percent of
shrimp farms, has generated jobs for thousands of local labourers and greatly
supported economic structure shift and poverty reduction in the Mekong delta.

Concentrating in 10 Mekong delta provinces, catfish farms produced a total output
of 1.1 million tonnes a year, of which 630,000 tonnes were exported to 130 countries
for over 1.4 billion USD in 2008.

The country currently had 100 processing plants for the fish.-Enditem