Lack of residue testing method leads to overuse of antibiotics in shrimp farming
The overuse of antibiotics in shrimp farming has led to significant economic losses as well as health risks for consumers. Why do shrimp farmers continue to maintain this habit? Is it because they lack technical knowledge, because of economic problems or because of something else?
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Overuse of antibiotics makes shrimp health weakened.
To find the answer, Associate Professor Vu Hoang Nam at Foreign Trade University and Japanese scientists conducted field studies from 2012-2014, surveying small-scale shrimp farmers in the South (Vietnam), who purchasing, processing companies and local managers.
They hypothesized why people continued to use banned antibiotics in shrimp farming, and designed controlled trials with three interventions: technical workshops, testing support of antibiotic residues and buy high-quality shrimp at a higher price.
The team found that shrimp farmers did not comply with the standards because there was no way to check for antibiotic residues, leading to a lack of understanding of the fact that shrimp exceeded the permissible antibiotic level or not. Therefore, the provision of antibiotic residue testing methods can be an effective solution to limit the overuse of antibiotics in aquaculture in developing countries.
The authors published the results in the paper "Reducing antibiotics use among smallholders: Experimental evidence from the shrimp aquaculture sector in Vietnam" in the Aquaculture journal.