On 10th November 2023, the Mekong Delta Climate Resilience Programme in collaboration with Can Tho University (CTU) organised a closing workshop of the activity "Improve environmental quality and Innovations for sustainable development of the rice shrimp farming systems towards organic in the Mekong Delta", which is one of the activities within the collaboration among seven partners: the Department of Fisheries, the Ca Mau Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Minh Phu seafood Group, Loc Troi group, Thoi Binh District People’s Committee, two rice shrimp cooperatives of Dan Phat and Hoa Phat and GIZ, implementing from December 2021 to November 2023.
The workshop was chaired by CTU with the participation of 70 delegates from the College of Fisheries and Aquaculture (CTU), the Research Institute for Aquaculture 2 (RIA 2), Minh Phu Seafood Corporation, Loc Troi Group, Sub-departments of Fisheries, Agriculture Extension Centers, Agricultural Offices, People's Committees of districts and communes, and rice shrimp cooperatives in the Mekong Delta provinces.
At the workshop, Associate Professor. Dr. Huynh Truong Giang – team leader of the activity shared the activity’s achievements, including the main sub-activities: Investigating and analyzing the environmental parameters of water and soil/sediment for farming ponds; Organizing technical training for farmers; Implementing innovative solutions for 12 rice-shrimp pilot households at Bien Bach Dong commune, Ca Mau province. The results showed that post-intervention, pilot households in 2023 achieved higher shrimp productivity (reached 260 kg shrimp/ha/year, increasing by 30% compared to that in 2021) and income (reached 36.6 million VND/ha/year, going up by 20% compared to that in 2021) compared to that of traditional households. Furthermore, the environmental and water quality also were improved which largely contributed to the development of rice shrimp farming towards organic.
Rice shrimp farming is considered as a potential adaptation solution to saline intrusion and reduced agricultural crop areas. It is predicted that the farming area for rice shrimp could reach 1,000,000 ha in 2030 compared to over 330,000 ha in 2023. In the coming time, MCRP will collaborate with its partners to conduct a feasibility study on the rice shrimp system in Ca Mau province, aiming to develop a detailed roadmap, scale, and investment measures to mobilise resources for scaling up the rice shrimp model on a larger scale.
