Shrimp farmers in Thua Thien-Hue province are bogged down in debt because all the shrimp farmed in 200 hectares of ponds here have died from a mysterious disease. According to the reports shrimp have died on a massive scale in 80 percent of shrimp farming areas, stamping out farmers’ hopes to repay debts.
Farmer Nguyen Thuy lamented that, with the lost shrimp crop, he does not know where he can earn money to pay his bank debts. Another farmer, Le Van Tien, arrived at the shrimp ponds to look for leftover shrimp and fish to cook gruel for his family. He further said that he is considering leaving for the south to look for jobas he has nothing to do now here in the hamlet. The shrimp have all died.
Vo Phi Sinh has many years of experience in shrimp farming and has also suffered a bitter failure this year. His shrimp farmed in one hectare of a pond have all died. Nguyen Bac, Chair of Phu Xuan People’s Committee, explained that 200 hectares of shrimp ponds in the commune have suffered from an epidemic and 100 percent of the shrimp have died.
Bac calculated that dead shrimp have created a four billion dong loss for farmers who have been bogged down in difficulties already. He added that no one would dare resume shrimp farming and that the ponds will be left idle.
