An alliance was set up on June 17 with a view to promoting sustainable shrimp production, an important sector in Vietnam’s agriculture.

The event to establish the Vietnam Sustainable Shrimp Alliance
in Ca Mau province on June 17 (Photo: VNA)

An event to match businesses in the sector and sign a memorandum of understanding on participating in the Vietnam Sustainable Shrimp Alliance (VSSA) was held in Ca Mau, a province in the Mekong Delta – the aquaculture hub of Vietnam.

Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Le Van Su said the VSSA foundation is an inevitable move amidst the fact that Vietnam’s shrimp sector is facing an array of challenges, including seeking markets and meeting consumers’ growing demand for clean and environmentally friendly shrimp products.

Josh Madeira, Senior Manager of Ocean Conservation Policy from the US’s Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Programme, noted consumers in North America, Europe and Asia consider the taste, freshness, health benefits and food safety as leading criteria when choosing aquatic products.

The US, the EU and Japan always have compulsory food safety requirements. Additionally, more than 90 percent of the retailers in North America and 75 percent of those in the EU also request that aquatic products must ensure environmental sustainability, he noted.

At the event, major shrimp businesses, farming cooperatives, farming households and agritech firms signed a memorandum of understanding to take part in the VSSA.

This will not only help ensure standard farming facilities, food supply and infrastructure but also create a self-contained production chain for the sustainable development of Vietnam’s shrimp sector.

In 2018, the industry experienced a year-on-year decline of 7.8 percent in export value to 3.6 billion USD. 

It aims to record an export revenue of 4.1 – 4.2 billion USD in 2019.