Illustrative photo (Source: VNA)

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh is running a high-tech project to boost the capacity of the local super-intensive farming model for white-leg shrimps.The model is called super-intensive farming as the number of shrimps farmed is up to 250 per square metre, compared with 50 in traditional models. Farmers thus harvest 40 tonnes per hectare per crop, seven to eight times higher than in traditional models.Nguyen Van Phung, deputy head of the department’s Agricultural Extension Centre, said the project is being piloted in two farms in Duyen Hai district, with encouraging initial outcomes.The project uses an automatic monitoring system with sensors to check the water PH, alkalinity and oxygen levels as well as temperature at shrimp farms. All indexes are then sent to be analysed and stored. Farmers can keep track of their farms via computers and smartphones.Nguyen Nhat Hoang, who runs one of the two pilot farms, said he is raising 200 white-leg shrimps per square metre across a water surface that spans 1,500 square metres. His shrimps are now 90 days old and will be harvested in about 30 days, with an estimated yield exceeding 5.6 tonnes per hectare.Hoang said the monitoring system helps farmers remotely manage their farms in terms of weather conditions and water environment.Last year, the province produced 45,000 tonnes of brackish water, white-leg and black tiger shrimps.With its 65km coastline, Tra Vinh is looking to increase its brackish water shrimp output to 70,640 tonnes by 2020 and more than 103,300 tonnes by 2030.-VNA