Issue cover-dated September 5, 2002
AQUACULTURE
Sweet and Sour Shrimp
Vietnam's shrimp industry is breeding both profits and misery. Should the government promote this risky business to reduce poverty?
By Margot Cohen/HANOI and QUANG NAM PROVINCE
Despite the risks, Vietnam is determined to emerge as a big winner in aquaculture. The nation is counting on shrimp becoming one of its few star exports as more traditional commodities such as rice, coffee and pepper remain cursed by low world prices. The seafood sector has already become Vietnam's third-largest earner of foreign exchange, with shrimp exports alone reaching $780 million last year. In 2001 the number of hectares devoted to shrimp nearly doubled to 446,000. The Ministry of Fisheries hopes to expand that to half a million hectares by 2005.
http://www.feer.com/articles/2002/0209_05/p038innov.html