VietNamNet
Bridge – The “barefoot billionaires,”
who once got rich with farming tra fish, have become moneyless and crippled
with debt.
Tra fish turned farmers into billionaires,
and then made them moneyless
In
2006-2007, in the southern province of An Giang, there was a very popular
statement orally transmitted: “where there is water, there would be gold
mines.” Tra farming helped a lot of poor farmers become billionaires just after
several farming crops. This prompted not only farmers, but also construction
and food companies to farm tra fish. A lot of “big guys” in HCM City with big
idle investment capital also flocked to the countryside to farm fish.
However,
things are getting quite different. The “barefoot billionaires” now bog down in
big difficulties.
A
farmer in An Giang province said that a big amount of oversize fish (1.2-1.5
kilo) has not been sold. Seafood companies now only collect 800 gram-1 kilo
fish to make fillet products for export. Farmers now have to bargain away the
oversize fish, even though at the prices below the production costs, to stop
loss.
Every
hectare of oversize fish needs 120 million dong for feed every day.
While
many processing workshops refuse to buy oversize fish, some seafood companies
like Binh An, An Khang in Can Tho City and Van Hung in Soc Trang still bought
oversize fish. They bought all the fish farmers had. Of course, farmers were so
happy to sell fish, and they did not demand immediate payment.
However,
the companies, which have been struggling to survive the difficulties, have
been delaying the payment since September 2011. To date, the total unpaid sum
of money has reached 300 billion dong.
As
such, with the average interest rate of 14 percent per annum, the farmers have
lost at least 21 billion dong in interests. Meanwhile, no one thinks the
farmers would be able to take back the debt, or in other words, they would
suffer complete loss.
Hai
Than, a tra fish in Long Xuyen, said he has sold 2.5 hectares of fish, worth 16
billion dong. Meanwhile, the feed and medicine costs for the last 8-month
farming alone reached 13 billion dong, which Than borrowed from banks.
Than
said that buyers would make payment after 30 days, which means that from the
day of delivering fish to the day of getting money, Than would bear the bank
loan interests of 300 million dong.
If the
buyers pay money as they promise, Than would make a profit of 1 billion dong
after eight months of farming. But if the buyers only make payment after four
months, Than would not make profit, or even take loss.
“I am a
loyal client of banks; therefore, I can access the bank loans easily. However,
I have to pay 2 percent a month in interest rate for the loan worth 13 billion
dong,” Than said.
He went
on to say that since he began farming fish in 1998, he has never taken loss,
which helps him easily access bank loans. However, there are numerous farmers
who are taking loss.
The “domino effects” in the tra fish farming
industry
Nearly
all the farmers, who sold fish in big quantities to processing companies like
Binh An, cannot farm fish any more now. The ponds have been blocked by
commercial banks because the farmers cannot pay debts. Meanwhile, medicine
suppliers now do not accept deferred payment. Learning the lesson from Binh An
case, they only deliver products when they get money.
Do Xuan
Mai, owner of a medicine shop in Long Xuyen district, is now on the tenterhooks
because he still cannot get back 4 billion dong from 25 fish farming
households.
It’s
not clear if Mai can recover the debts. Ten of the households, who owe 1.5
billion dong, have left the villages. Others households have asked for the
payment delay.
Quynh
Van
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