Fish farmers await funding to replenish stocks lost in cold snap
Fish farmers await funding to replenish stocks lost in cold snap
The Department of Livestock and Fisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is asking for 950 million kip to buy fingerlings and breeding pairs to replace fish stocks lost in the recent cold weather.
The department has submitted the request to the ministry for its consideration so that fish farmers can continue their business and aren't hit too hard.
The extreme cold weather last month killed about 467 tonnes of fish, with farmers losing 7 billion kip's worth of stock in total.
Most of the losses occurred in Borikhamxay province, killing about 334 tonnes of fish including tilapia, ( pa nin ) Chinese carp, pa park and catfish.
Ms La Khou nsay, who raises fish in her pond in Nongpong village, Khamkeuth distr ict, Borikhamxay province, said she lost about 50 million kip after her fish died.
This was her first such experience after she set up the family bus iness five years ago.
She said the fish died when the temperature dropped to 1-2 degrees Celsius.Almost all her fingerl ings, young fish and parent fish died because of the low temperature, Ms La told Vientiane Times yesterday.
“This year, I invested about 30 million kip in producing fingerlings, buying feed and making concret e ponds in which to keep the fish, which I sell,” she said.
She borrowed about 100 million kip from a bankso she could grow her business,never imagining that she would lose most of her stock in cold weather.
She was thankful that she wasn't having to pay to rent a pond as she had built one herself on her own land.
She started the business in 2010 and was making a profit of about 50 million kip a year and as things were looking so promising she had planned to borrow more money from the bank.
Next month, she planned to release a new batch of fish but she now has limited funding and parent fish for breeding.
If she is to make progress, she needs about 300kg of parent fish to produce fingerlings and more breeding stock.
If the Department of Livestock and Fisheries can provide financial support to farmers in Khamkeuth district, especially Nongpong village, it will help to get them back on their feet.
The ministry said it would focus on those farmers who lost the most fish and then assist those who suffered medium or smaller losses.
Some farmers took out bank loans to sustain their fish farms so the ministry should submit this issue to the government in the hope that it will call for banks to postpone the payment of interest on loans.
