Talking about ecological/organic shrimp means talking about black tiger shrimp, with specific farming models such as: shrimp - forest, shrimp - rice, extensive shrimp. This is a shrimp farming model that is very environmentally friendly, highly sustainable, the product is suitable for green consumption trends, so it has high value and competitiveness. However, according to Mr. Ho Quoc Luc - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sao Ta Food Joint Stock Company, to sell at a high price, in addition to ensuring quality, food safety and hygiene, and raising to international standards, black tiger shrimp needs to be raised to a large size because the larger the black tiger shrimp, the higher the selling price, the more profit. According to Mr. Le Van Quang - Chairman of Minh Phu Seafood Corporation, Naturland certified ecological shrimp is priced 15 - 20% higher than uncertified shrimp.

Tiger shrimp raised using a completely microbial process in Soc Trang gives good results and high quality. Photo: TICH CHU

For over 20 years, Vietnam has been a global leader in organic/ecological shrimp production, but the development of organic/ecological shrimp models in Vietnam is still very limited, mainly in Ca Mau with two main models: certified shrimp-forest and shrimp-rice. Most of the above models apply farming methods close to nature, so according to Mr. Quang, as long as production is well organized, it is very easy to achieve international certifications, including organic/ecological certification. This helps to solve the problem of increasingly high international requirements for environmentally friendly shrimp farming methods, along with concerns about food safety, helping the product receive a higher price on the market.

Organic/ecological black tiger shrimp is a special product developed by businesses and localities and has achieved the first international certification in the world. Currently, although the world's consumption trend has shifted to using more whiteleg shrimp due to the advantage of low price, because there are not many countries raising black tiger shrimp, the supply is also limited, so the consumption of black tiger shrimp is also very stable compared to whiteleg shrimp. However, although the selling price is quite stable, due to low shrimp productivity, the profit is not really attractive to farmers.

Another advantage is that black tiger shrimp can be raised to large sizes, and its taste is similar to lobster, so it is a product for the high-end market, but is very suitable for low-medium farming models, such as: improved extensive farming, shrimp - rice, shrimp - forest... and the product is very popular in the market, especially in some large markets such as: China, Japan, USA, Australia, Dubai, Singapore...

According to Mr. Dinh Xuan Lap - Deputy Director of the International Cooperation Center for Sustainable Aquaculture and Fisheries (ICAFIS), due to the characteristics of shrimp farming in the Mekong Delta mainly on a household scale, when building a linkage chain, the important issue is how to improve the capacity and role of cooperatives/cooperative groups (Cooperatives/Groups) in signing input material contracts and consuming products to reduce costs but still ensure the quality of input materials; reduce intermediaries thereby increasing the added value of farmed shrimp products; strengthen certified farming practices, improve the capacity and participation of traders. For enterprises participating in the chain, regularly inform about the requirements and standards of raw shrimp of each import market to Cooperatives/Groups and select Cooperatives/Groups that meet the requirements of the enterprises for investment. According to Dr. Hoang Tung - University of Tasmania, to develop sustainable ecological/organic black tiger shrimp farming, it is necessary to evaluate actual effectiveness to build a specific development strategy; next is quality orientation, brand building, productivity improvement, and cost reduction.

In the development strategy, it is necessary to improve productivity, production organization methods, product consumption and market development, in order to continue to maintain Vietnam's leading position in shrimp farming in the world. On that basis, it is necessary to pay attention to the production value index or profit, how appropriate the supply-demand balance is, how competitive the capacity is, in order to choose appropriate technical solutions and implementation roadmap. Particularly, management and research agencies need to carry out more topics and projects to help improve the productivity and quality of black tiger shrimp; organic and ecological shrimp production programs so that farms can be more proactive in seed sources.

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