Cage culture of giant snakehead (Channa micropeltes) was started in
1960s while the farming of common snakehead fish (Channa striatus) was
started in 1990s and spreadby different farming systemsin the flood-prone areas
of the Mekong Delta. The study titled “Value chain analysis of cultural
snakehead product in the Mekong Delta” was carried out in An Giang, Dong
Thap, Can Tho and Hau Giang provinceaimingtostudy thestatus and sollution
for the development snakehead culture intheMekong Delta. There are 5 main
groups of actors of snakehead value chain (farmers, traders, processors, retailers
and end consumers). There are also two chain supporters, including market
managersand government officers.
Average stocking duration was 4-6 months/crop depending on cultured
species and selling price at the harvest. Average stocking density was 204
fish/m
2
(or 114 fish/m
3
) with the average survival rate of 53.2% and the average
yield was 41.9 kg/m
3
/crop. Production cost was VND 29,700per kg and if the
cost of self-captured trash fish was not taken into account, this cost was reduced
about VND 24,400per kgonly.
Most of local traders bought table snakehead directlyfromthe grow-out
farms (54.7%) and resold the fish to bigger traders in HCM city (58.8%). All
retailers in the local marketssold outthe bought fish to localconsumers.
Fordried snakehead processors, average amount of raw fish bought was
8.2 tons/processor/year, of which 84.4%was bought fromfishtraders. Theysold
out their dried fish to HCM city after processing (60.4%). Average purchased
quantity of raw snakehead bought by fish sauce processors was 9.0
tons/processor/year, of which 39.6%was bought from grow-out farms. Today,
somesauce processors bought wild snakehead from Cambodia (5.7%)due to the
depletion of wild fish and the trade of wild snakehead from Cambodia was
mainlyin flooding season (September to December).
There were10 marketing channels of snakehead fish, of which TWO most
important channels were number 3 (fish were consumed intheMekong Delta)
and number 9 (fish were sold and consumed in HCM city). Profitwasdistributed
not fair among the chain actors, traders recieved more profit than others(about
87.9-93.4% of total chain profit). The retailers received the hightest level of
profit per kg but the profit they obtained was lower than otheractors that of due
to small amount of fishpurchased.
