Farmers harvest tra fish raised under a contract with a company in An Giang Province’s Châu Thành District. — VNA/VNS Photo Vũ Sinh

AN GIANG — The Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta province of An Giang is restructuring tra fish farming with an eye on becoming the region’s hub for producing fry for selling to aquaculture farms.

It plans to develop concentrated breeding areas of 1,500-1,600ha in Châu Phú, Châu Thành and Chợ Mới districts and Long Xuyên City by 2025 and models that use advanced techniques and are environment-friendly and adapted to climate change.

Located in the delta’s upstream area and with a dense river network, An Giang, one of the delta’s largest tra fish producers, has favourable conditions for aquaculture.

To become the main hub for producing tra fish fry, it will continue implementing a three tier co-operation plan for production of high-quality strains approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

It will upgrade and expand its Aquaculture Seed Centre to secure supply of tra fish breeds and increase the survival rate of fry.

Trần Anh Thư, deputy chairman of the An Giang People’s Committee, said the province would step up trade promotion and expand exports of tra fish to the US, EU, China, and ASEAN, which account for 50-60 per cent of its exports.

It hoped strengthening trade promotion would ensure domestic sales reach 8-10 per cent of output, he said.

It would develop linkages between large companies that produce and consume the fish, he said.

Last year it produced 443,000 tonnes of tra fish, up 33,000 tonnes from 2021, and two billion fry, up 10 per cent.

Nguyễn Sĩ Lâm, director of the province Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the three-tier co-operation plan was actively implemented in combination with other tra development projects.

The province has nine fry producing establishments which have 41,220 breeding adults and four companies participating in the co-operation plan. — VNS