75 tonnes worth of prawns have died in a large-scale dilemma for farmers in Hoang Phu Commune, Thanh Hoa Province.
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| Dead prawns left to dry |
Statistics made public by the People’s Committee of Hoang Phu Commune, Hoang Hoa District, Thanh Hoa Province revealed that the 75 tonnes of dead prawns held a value of VND7 billion ($366,396).
There are currently 171 prawn-farming families that cover an area of 220 hectares in the commune. 151 of these families are coping with large-scale deaths of their prawns.
Le Xuan Tich, Director of the Agriculture Cooperative of Hoang Phu Commune said, “If the situation can not be controlled, the breeders in this commune will lose more money. Most of them borrowed money from banks and some borrowed hundreds of millions of dong.”
Nguyen Thi Hue, from Sao Vang Hamlet, Hoang Phu Commune sadly shared, “My family raises prawns over an area of 0.5 hectares. I do not know why the prawns are dying. I can do nothing to stop them from dying. I have to harvest dead prawns, dry them and use them for feeding pigs.”
Leaders of the commune and cooperative conducted an investigation to find out the cause behind the dying prawns. The results showed that the prawns were infected with White Spot Syndrome Virus. Another contributing factor is the hot weather which caused water temperatures to rise.
After reporting the situation in Hoang Phu Commune, the Department of Agriculture & Rural Development of Thanh Hoa Province together with relevant agencies coordinated with the People’s Committee of Hoang Phu Commune to collect information on the prawn deaths and to come up with appropriate solutions to help resolve the issue.
