Supportive Policy Environment for Handling After Harvest
Policy that aims to promote responsible aquaculture in line with global standards of food safety and Codex requirements will promote practices that help control food loss and waste (FLW) at harvesting and handling stages.
According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), policy solutions to FLW will benefit from consistent policy across sectors (including trade, food safety and health, development, environment, energy), stakeholder engagement, the development of national strategies, creation of favourable investment climates, investment in training and capacity building and ensuring clarity and support is provided regarding food safety standards. Consideration should also be given to the entire value chain rather than simply production.
Policy implementation support facilitated by government includes aquaculture service support to the private sector, such as advice to investors, aquatic animal health, and collaboration with industry on matters of policy that affects it. Such support needs to include FLW advice and the importance of reducing food loss.
Policy in Practice
Policy in Practice
Policy put in place by the Government of Vietnam over the past 20 years has been supportive of aquaculture development. The sector is considered one of the major alternative activities to diversify income for coastal communities. The main focus has been on the establishment of infrastructure for aquaculture development, and to convert unproductive land to aquaculture. In addition, Government policy has supported fishers and farmers in isolated areas through credit schemes. Micro-finance is conducted through the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (VBARD), the Commercial Investment Bank (CIB) and the Bank for Social Policy (BSP). BSP mainly provides subsidized loans to poor households, while VBARD and CIB make large loans to enterprises. These policies have supported fishermen investing in pond construction, buying of equipment, seed, feeds and other items.
Additionally, there has been the set up and continuous improvement in the law, regulations and standards on conditions for food safety, environment and animal health protection, which meets technical barriers to trade (TBT) and Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary (SPS) measures on food quality and safety. Raw material production, handling, processing, preservation and distribution of fish and fishery product to the customers are supported and monitored as part of a quality assurance system. Consequently, policy is supporting activities and conditions which will promote FLW reduction.
Key Publications
| The mix of intensity, culture systems, species, farming systems and different phase of culture create an extreme diverse collection of aquaculture systems and technologies. |
| Barriers to Aquaculture Development as a Pathway to Poverty Alleviation and Food Security Overview of aquaculture in a developing country context with recommendations related to better policy going forward. |
| Current Fisheries and Aquaculture Policies Relevant to RFLP in Vietnam Overview of fisheries and aquaculture development in Vietnam and the growth of aquaculture. |
More Resources
More Resources
31 October 2023
