A farm in Cu Chi District, HCM City that is home to 1,650 crocodiles. Crocodile farms are facing losses due to outbreaks of disease and falling demand for crocodile skin and meat. — VNA/VNS Photo Hoang HaiCrocodile farmers in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta provinces of Kien Giang and Ca Mau are facing financial losses as disease outbreaks and a weak market have affected sales.

Duong Van Au, owner of the Phu Hai crocodile-farm company in Kien Giang's Phu Quoc Island, said late last year 2,500 out of 5,500 crocodiles died at his farm. His losses totalled VND1 billion (US$48,000).

The outbreak came at a time when there was insufficiency of fresh water. In addition, the animals were not treated promptly because there was no veterinary staff on the island.

In Ca Mau Province, farmers have faced a similar situation. Nguyen Van Hai, a farmer in the province's Tan Hung Dong Commune, said crocodiles grew well in the early stages, but gained only 10kg when disease broke out.

The price drop has also hit farmers hard. According to Au, the selling price of crocodiles is VND120,000 ($5.7) per kilo, a decrease of 20 per cent over last year.

Au said he found it difficult to find a market where he could sell the crocodiles at higher prices.

Nguyen Van Luom of Tan Hung Dong Commune said he had a loss of VND200 million ($9,500) because the price of young, small crocodiles during this breeding season was high, but the selling price was low.

Farmer Tran Van Han could not find a market for his crocodiles, even at a low price. But keeping the crocodiles on the farm cost him VND200,000 ($9.5) a day for feed alone.

The local agriculture authority said many crocodile farms had developed independently without any input from authorities or experts.

Thus, the authority could not assist farmers in finding markets for their crocodiles.

They can only help the farms that have officially registered to raise crocodiles in standardised conditions and those that raise baby crocodiles that meet certain requirements.

Ca Mau's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said the province had 500 household farms that had raised a total of 5,000 crocodiles. The farmers could not find markets to buy their animals.

Source: VNS