Over recent years, a large number of farmers and fishermen in Da Nang have  registered to attend training courses in South Korea and Japan, on hi-tech agriculture production, and measures to maximise the quality and storage life of fresh seafood products, respectively.

Hoa Vang's farmers learning about hi-tech agriculture production techniques in South Korea

Last year, representatives from the Hoa Vang District People’s Committee and the Yeongyang County authorities in South Korea jointly started to implement a cooperation programme.

Under the ongoing programme, Hoa Vang’s farmers are attending training courses in Yeongyang on hi-tech agriculture production techniques.

The programme aims to facilitate Hoa Vang to make more breakthroughs in its agriculture, raise the incomes and enhance living standards of local farmers, and promote the development of organic agriculture.

To date, a total of 250 local farmers have registered to participate in this meaningful, practical cooperation programme.

Farmer Tran Van Huynh from the district’s Hoa Khuong Commune, one of the participants in this programme, eagerly recalled his unforgettable memories during his stay in South Korea to learn more about hi-tech agriculture production techniques.

What impressed this man most is that all South Korea farmers, even they are in their eighties, effectively utilise agricultural machinery, including tractors and pesticide sprayers, to considerably ease their hard work, as well as to promote modern mechanized agriculture.

For crop production, the use of diversified machinery helps to efficiently deploy the handling of residues from previous crops, primary and secondary tillage of the soil, fertilizer distribution and application, seeding, planting, and transplanting, cultivation, pest control, harvesting, transportation, storage, irrigation and erosion control, and other related activities.

The Da Nang Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Kushiro Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan's Hokkaido Prefecture, are jointly implementing a project for promoting the establishment of a seafood value chain in Da Nang.

The owners of local vessels attending the training course in Kushiro City

Under this large-scale project, focus is being on reducing post-harvest losses, maximising the quality of fresh seafood products, eliminating unpleasant odours at the Tho Quang fishing wharf, and enhancing the value of seafood products.

Through the project, Da Nang has the opportunity to access advanced Japanese seafood catching, its processing and preserving techniques to ensure the absolute top seafood quality.

Furthermore, the Kushiro Chamber of Commerce and Industry is now assisting Da Nang to supply locally-caught high-value seafood for Japanese restaurants across the city, and to seek more consumers in its neighbouring localities.  Also, seafood products sourced from Viet Nam and Kushiro City are further promoted to each other through the organisation of their fairs and related events.

Kushiro City is a famous city in Hokkaido Prefecture for its incredible seafood restaurants, along with its rich experience in ensuring food quality, safety and hygiene management.

The establishment of the local seafood value chain helps to strengthen bilateral cooperation between Da Nang and Kushiro businesses, thereby accelerating the growth of the 2 localities in the years ahead.

The Japanese experts recently helped the family of Mr Tran Van Muoi from Son Tra District install a cooling system on their vessel DNa-90777’s seafood storage compartment in a bid to keep their catches in good conditions.

In a similar vein, with the help from Japanese experts, a flake ice making machine has been installed onboard the boat DNa 90945 owned by Dao Ngoc Minh Tam from Thanh Khe District.  Rapidly cooling the caught fish and preserving its peak freshness, flake ice is the best choice for use in the fisheries industry due to its quick chill properties and versatility.

Last August, the owners of other fishing vessels and employees from the Authority of the Tho Quang fishing wharf recently attended a training course in Kushiro City on how to efficiently operate seafood preservation equipment.

In reality, some local fishermen are still earning only small profits from their catches due to the low quality of their products.

Most local fishermen usually store their newly-caught seafood in their frozen storage compartments filled with foam to lengthen their products’ freshness.  However, the foam layers, which have now been used for a very long time, are able to absorb water.  This causes the catches to spoil, smell bad, and become bruised during the week-long fishing trips.  Therefore, if the catches could be preserved by better methods, they will be sold at higher prices.