HCM CITY — The HCM City People’s Committee has approved the Pet Fish Development Programme in 2016-20 with the aim of developing a sustainable pet fish industry.

The programme aims to increase the quantity and improve the value of pet fish and upgrade infrastructure to ensure hygiene and protect the environment.

All pet fish farms will take part in disease-safety supervision to create conditions for expanding exports.

The city seeks to breed 150-180 million pet fish by 2020 and export 40-50 million (for US$50 million) of them.

At the end of last year there were 286 farms breeding pet fish, mostly in outlying districts like 8,9, 12, Gò Vấp, Bình Tân, Thủ Đức, Hóc Môn, Bình Chánh, and Củ Chi, and 278 pet fish shops.

In the five years since 2010 the number of pet fish and their value both doubled to 120 million and VNĐ534 billion ($24 million).

The number of fish exported and their value also doubled to 13 million and $12 million.

Now there are 10 companies exporting to 47 nations, 60-70 per cent to Europe and the rest to America, Asia and South Africa.

Despite the fact that export numbers and turnover have increased significantly, most farms remain small and family-owned and cannot offer consistent quality in case of giant orders.

Inefficient breeding and the small number of farms mean Vietnamese exports cannot match those of neighbours like Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.

To achieve the 2020 target under the programme, HCM City will develop farms and shops, provide them with new technologies, offer new sales and promotion programmes, offer incentives to develop the pet fish industry and strengthen co-operation between farms.

Provinces with water, suitable terrain and land to farm fish and experience like Đồng Nai, Bình Dương and Long An will co-operate with HCM City for the programme.

Websites to trade pet fish online will be established to cut production and trading costs. — VNS