Shrimps in nearly 5,500ha of area have died off until the end of June at Soc Trang Province in the Mekong Delta.

This accounts for 29 per cent of the total shrimp breeding area in the province.

This shrimp season, the province continues to be the hot spot of diseases. There is a risk of a disease outbreak, which can spread to many areas in the province, an official said.

The effects of prolonged hot weather and changes in the environment during the pre-monsoon season have led to local shrimp farms in the province suffering heavy losses.

Pham Van Giet, a farmer in My Xuyen District's Hoa Tu commune, said his family bred prawn shrimp for two months and they grew well, but bad weather destroyed an entire shrimp farm of 6,000sq.m. killing 20,000 shrimps with it.

According to a report from a veterinary station, 70 per cent of shrimp in farms were affected by liver disease and 20 per cent by environmental changes, while the remaining ones died of other causes.

My Xuyen district and Vinh Chau town have suffered the heaviest damage.

Tran Quoc Quang, head of the Agriculture and Rural Development of My Xuyen District, said the local community has so far lost more than 2,500ha of shrimp farm due to bad weather and diseases, accounting for 20 per cent of the total shrimp farm area there.

The provincial veterinary department has reported that diseases can spread to larger areas.

Diseases are expected to rise during the first half of the rainy season and will be difficult to control due to changes in weather, an official of the department noted.

The department has also recommended farmers to suspend breeding baby shrimps in infected areas.

The province will also continue to implement disease prevention measures, especially in localities that have been seriously affected.

The province has bred shrimp in nearly 20,000ha of farms, accounting for 40 per cent of the plan for their cultivation.

VNA