Workers of QNTek Joint Stock Company feed shrimp at a farm in coastal Bình Hải Commune, Quảng Nam Province. — VNS Photo Công Thành

QUẢNG NAM — The central province of Quảng Nam has introduced the first hi-tech shrimp farming projects in Thăng Bình District’s Coastal Bình Hải Commune on 6.5 hectares with a total investment of VNĐ33 billion (US$1.5 million).

It is the first shrimp farm in the country to apply a non-use chemical-based antibiotic and water filtration recirculation system, said QNTek Joint-Stock Company’s technology director Trần Bá Cường John.

He said garlic and other natural antibiotic agents were mixed into food to prevent the whiteleg shrimp from becoming infected.

Cường said the farm also applied nano-tech in its water treatment process.

The project was designed to produce 9 tonnes of shrimp from each 1,000sq.m pool in the first stage of investment.

According to Quảng Nam provincial People’s Committee, the project will act as an example of hi-tech aquaculture development before the practices are spread throughout the province.

The committee said Japan and Korea would be two key export markets for the province’s whiteleg shrimp in 2019.

The first nano-technology shrimp farm has been developed in Thăng Bình District, Quảng Nam Province. The 6.5ha farm will produce nine tonnes of shrimp from each 1,000sq.m pool for export. — VNS Photo Công Thành

Quảng Nam has developed 1,750ha of aquaculture, 1,350ha of which is used for whiteleg shrimp farming with an average productivity of 4.5 tonnes of shrimp per hectare and a revenue of VNĐ202 million ($8,900) for each hectare.

Earlier this year, the province also approved hi-tech farming and agriculture park projects in Thăng Bình District and the township of Điện Bàn on 425 hectares of land with planned investment totalling VNĐ5.4 trillion ($239 million) by 2024.

Two investors – Trường Hải Joint Stock Company and Hoàng Anh Gia Lai – have agreed to a joint-venture agroforestry project with an investment of VNĐ13.8 trillion ($611 million) in the province.

The province has 857,628ha of protected forest and farm land – 82 per cent of the province’s area – 115,000ha of which is reserved for agricultural production.

According to the latest report, the export value of agricultural, forestry and fishery products was estimated at about $40 billion in 2018. — VNS