Bank supports shrimp farmers to overcome difficulties

Recently, hundreds of households raising lobsters and other seafood in the Cu Mong lagoon area in Phu Duong and Vinh Hoa villages of Xuan Thinh commune, Song Cau town (Phu Yen) suddenly faced a crisis due to the mass death of seafood.

People suffered heavy losses

It is worth mentioning that not only lobsters but also many types of cage-raised marine fish and shrimps, natural fish in the Cu Mong lagoon area suddenly died. According to statistics from local authorities, within just one week, more than 67 tons of lobsters, 62 tons of marine fish of 281 households of some households in Song Cau town died, estimated damage of tens of billions of dong...

According to the People's Committee of Song Cau town, lobster farming has contributed to creating jobs for more than 4,000 households, with about 10,000 direct laborers. Meanwhile, lobster farming and other seafood farming also account for a large proportion of outstanding debt in the locality. Mr. Hoang Vu Phi Phong, director of Agribank Song Cau town, said that the whole town has 13 communes and wards, many of which focus on developing seafood farming. Currently, outstanding debt from lobster farming customers accounts for 70% of the unit's total outstanding debt. In recent years, lobster farming in Song Cau has been in season and has good prices. In addition, the local people's awareness of debt repayment is also very good.

According to the representative of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Phu Yen province, through a field survey, the authorities assessed the cause of the mass death of lobsters and fish in Song Cau town in the past time due to the density of cages being too high, the poor farming environment combined with complicated weather developments, hot and humid weather, and thunderstorms causing water stratification, increasing the pressure on the bottom layer, promoting the decomposition of organic matter, depleting the dissolved oxygen content in the water, especially in the period from 0 - 3 am. In addition, due to the sudden increase in the content of some toxic gases from the bottom of the lagoon exceeding the threshold, the water in the farming area has a strong foul smell, causing the phenomenon of shrimp and fish dying...

Banks in Phu Yen have stepped in to help shrimp farmers overcome difficulties.

Banks step in to support

It is known that as of July 2024, the whole Phu Yen province has over 186,000 aquaculture cages, 3.8 times higher than the planned number. To limit the death of aquaculture products, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of the province has requested the People's Committees of Song Cau town, Dong Hoa town and Tuy An district to direct communes and wards to propagate to people not to stock at high density, to increase the distance between cages to increase water circulation, and to avoid local oxygen deficiency in the cages.

In response to the losses of the people, Ms. Do Thi Bich Dieu, Deputy Director of the State Bank of Vietnam, Phu Yen branch, said that immediately after lobster and seafood farming households in the locality suffered heavy losses, the local banking sector quickly stepped in, implementing many solutions to support people to overcome difficulties and soon stabilize production again...

Accordingly, the State Bank of Vietnam, Phu Yen branch, has established a working group to directly work with credit institutions with branches and transaction offices in Song Cau town. At the same time, there is an official dispatch No. 482/PHY1 requesting commercial bank branches in the area and the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies, Phu Yen branch to report on the situation of damaged lobster farming loans; requesting banks to review and assess the damage situation of customers. From there, propose solutions to handle and apply solutions to support people to overcome difficulties and resume farming in the new crop.

According to the summary reports of local credit institutions, in the whole area, 8/17 banks provided loans for lobster farming, with outstanding loans of 1,418.4 billion VND for 5,986 households. Of which, 4 banks incurred losses to customers, with outstanding loans of 35.5 billion VND (according to current outstanding loans of customers at the bank) for 119 households...

Based on the regulations, policies of the Government and current legal regulations, as well as the financial situation of banks, preferential interest rate programs and policies according to the subjects prescribed by each bank, initially banks have implemented a number of solutions such as reducing lending interest rates for customers from 1% to 3%, debt restructuring, interest exemption and reduction, and additional loans to support customers to overcome difficulties. In addition, the Bank for Social Policies, Phu Yen branch has also applied solutions (according to the separately prescribed risky debt handling mechanism) including: debt extension for customers with capital and asset damage of less than 40%; debt rescheduling for customers with capital and asset damage of 40% to 100%; additional loans to restore production according to the bank's specific policy program.

Ms. Tran Thi Chac, in Vinh Hoa village, Xuan Thinh commune, Song Cau town, said that right after her farmed lobsters died, she was given a loan of 200 million VND by Agribank of Song Cau town with a preferential interest rate. Thanks to that, in a very difficult time, she had the capital to invest and restore her family's traditional shrimp farming profession. Similarly, Mr. Le Van Sang, residing in the same locality, shared that his family was also given a new loan of 150 million VND by Agribank of Song Cau town. With this capital, the family initially had the funds to overcome the consequences and invest in raising a new crop of shrimp...

According to Do Thi Bich Dieu, the State Bank of Vietnam Phu Yen branch will continue to monitor the situation, request credit institutions to specifically report on the results of support for customers and propose and advise on appropriate support solutions for households (if new developments arise...). In addition, credit institutions in the area are required to continue to monitor and create conditions for new loans for seafood farming customers in need, and provide loans at preferential interest rates so that shrimp farmers can soon have conditions to restore production.

Source: https://thoibaonganhang.vn/ngan-hang-ho-tro-nguoi-nuoi-tom-vuot-qua-kho-khan-154683.html