By Han Son Dinh
(VietnamNet Bridge).- Thousands of farmers in the Cuu Long River Delta are losing sleep as their 1-2-month-old shrimp are dying on a large scale. Many of them have become penniless as a result.

In 2007, Sau Su in Phuoc Long Commune in Phuoc Long district, Bac Lieu province, earned nearly VND10mil from shrimp hatching. Encouraged by the high profit, Su decided to turn 3ha of land near Bon Ngan canal into shrimp ponds, in which he put 72,000 breeder shrimp. However, what he got from the two months of work was … shrimp carcasses.
 
Ponds red with dead shrimp
 
Not discouraged, Su decided to start again. He drove to Nha Mat ward in Bac Lieu town to buy 50,000 breeder shrimp and put them into the pond. However, these shrimp died just a short time later.
 
Su breathed a sigh, saying that he lost all the VND10mil he earned last year
 
Many other extensive farming ponds in Phuoc Long, Gia Rai and Dong Hai also have seen massive numbers of shrimp die. Industrial ponds in Bac Lieu town, Vinh Chau, My Xuyen and Long Phu districts are also facing risks of epidemic attacks due to the changing weather.
 
Hua Tan Phong in ward 5, Bac Lieu town, who had three shrimp ponds, complained that he had to collect … dead shrimp. Phong said he has lost nearly one hundred million VND.
 
Farmers in shrimp-hatchery areas said that the PH concentration in shrimp ponds has been overly high, thus killing the shrimp. Farmers now have to tackle the problematic shrimp ponds with lime and chemicals before they start the next shrimp hatchery crop. However, they fear that banks will not lend them money, while the prices of breeder shrimp have soared from VND32,000/1,000 units to VND40,000/1,000 units.
 
Meanwhile, the prices of food for shrimp have also increased, and those who buy food under deferred payments will have to pay VND40-60,000/50 kg pack more. As farmers cannot access bank loans, they have to borrow money from ‘black credit sources’ at exorbitant interest rates.
 
44,000 ha of shrimp ponds lost
 
According to local authorities, Soc Trang and Bac Lieu provinces have 600 ha with dead shrimp.
 
Meanwhile, the problem in Ca Mau province is more serious with 33,850 ha of ponds with dead shrimp. Shrimp are dying extensively in ponds in Tran Van Thoi, U Minh and Dam Doi districts. Kien Giang province also has 9,000 ha of shrimp ponds affected.
 
As of March 21, 44,000 ha of shrimp ponds in the Cuu Long River Delta had been affected.
 
Nguyen Van Luan, a farmer in An Lac commune in Tran Van Thoi district in Ca Mau province, said that his shrimp, which he had been breeding for two months (70 units/kg), suddenly turned red like cooked shrimp, and died.
 
Luan related that farmers have to eat dead shrimp because they cannot sell them. Other farmers have tried to suck the water from the ponds into the canal to treat the ponds with chemicals. However, experts say that it is a foolish move as the water will bring germs everywhere.
 
According to Su Van Minh, Head of the Agriculture Division under Tran Van Thoi district’s People’s Committee, shrimp are dying because farmers do not follow the aquaculture schedule. However, Phan Van Sa, Director of the Bac Lieu Hydrometeorology Centre, said that it was because of the unseasonal rains on Ca Mau peninsula, which caused the water conditions of shrimp ponds to unexpectedly change. The wide gap in the temperatures (33oC in day and 22oC at night) was also cited as a reason.
 
Farmers worried, local authorities react slowly
 
The massive number of shrimp deaths has been making farmers miserable. However, in a meeting with VietNamNet reporters on March 20, an official of the Bac Lieu Fisheries Promotion Centre said that he had not heard about the dying shrimp. Meanwhile, Deputy General Director of Bac Lieu Seafood Department Ta Minh Phu said that it is just ‘petty trouble’.
 
Phu said that only several hundreds of hectares have been affected, while Bac Lieu has 125,000 ha of shrimp. Therefore, the local authorities have not considered helping farmers to tackle difficulties.
 
Phan Van Ut, Chief of the Secretariat of the Ca Mau Seafood Department, also said that the 33,000 ha of damaged shrimp cultivation area just accounts for 13% of total shrimp hatchery area of the province, and the figure proves to be lower than the damages last year.
 
Ut said that the department has sent experts to localities to show farmers how to tackle the problems, but will not give them financial support.
 
He added that the local department has advised farmers to diversify the types of aquatic products (fish, crab) in order to minimise risks.

Source: http://english.vietnamnet.vn