Cage fish farming – a good choice for sustainable poverty reduction in Vay Nua commune

Five out of 10 hamlets of Vay Nua commune in Dan Bac district areas are located beside the Hoa Binh lake. Based on this natural advantage, local people select cage fish farming as a sustainable poverty reduction model, thus gradually increasing income, raising the living conditions and promoting the locality’s socio-economic development.

Cage fish farming has helped Xa Van Dang’s family in Tham hamlet, Vay Nua commune (Da Bac district) earn over 100 million VND in profit a year.

Local farmers had raised fish in cages since before 2000 but in a spontaneous manner. However, they faced many difficulties due to a lack of suitable small fish supply and the instability of consumption. It was not until 2012 that the model began to develop strongly. 

Local statistics showed the commune currently has over 560 fish cages, raising mainly Chien fish (Bagarius bagarius), Lang (Hemibagrus), Tram den (Mylopharyngodon piceus),and Nganh (Cranoglanis sinensis). About 300 local households are joining the farming. Each fish cage generates 25-30 million VND in profit per year.

Suitable investment in this model can help local farmers earn 100 million VND/cage per year.  Some outstanding individuals such Xa Van Dang and Bui Van Luan in Tham village; Dinh Cong Ut and Dinh Thi Hang in Sang Trach hamlet can rake  in between 100-200 million VND/year from the model.

Vay Nua has been provided 3.9 billion VND in support for developing 389 fish cages. The local authority has coordinated with relevant departments and sectors to efficiently use the support to improve productivity and quality of products.

Many training courses have been organised to give technical direction in this field to locals. 

In addition, the commune’s authority was entrusted by the Social Policy Bank, the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Agribank for loans worth 30 billion VND. More than 60 percent of local households have accessed this source of capital to develop fish cage farming.

Bui Van Ky, Chairman of the Vay Nua commune People’s Committee said thanks to the effective development of fish cage farming, the per capita incomein the commune reached 17.2 million VND this year, and the rate of poor households decreased to 41.08 percent, according to statistics in 2018.

In the coming time, the commune will continue to encourage households to expand the model and actively learn and apply science and technology in the farming, he said.

Ky also expressed the hope that departments and organizations will support the establishment of cooperatives in the commune towards promoting mutual support among local farmers in production and ensuringstable consumption for products./.