Agronomy for Sustainable Development (2018) 38: 34

https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-018-0511-9

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Aquaculture innovation system analysis of transition to sustainable

intensification in shrimp farming
Olivier M. Joffre 1,2 & Laurens Klerkx 1 & Tran N. D. Khoa 3

Accepted: 18 May 2018 / Published online: 11 June 2018

# The Author(s) 2018

Abstract
The shrimp sector has been one of the fastest growing agri-food systems in the last decades, but its growth has entailed negative
social and environmental impacts. Sustainable intensification will require innovation in multiple elements of the shrimp produc-
tion system and its value chain. We use the case of the shrimp sector in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam to explore the constraints in
the transition to sustainable intensification in shrimp farming, using an analytical framework based on innovation systems
thinking, i.e., an aquaculture innovation systems framework. Using this framework, we conduct a systemic diagnostic of
blocking mechanisms, interrelated sets of constraints within the aquaculture sector that hinder a transition toward sustainable
intensification. Our findings show that the major constraints are institutional, with limited enforcement of the regulatory frame-
work for input quality control, disease control, and wastewater management, and a lack of coordination between government
bodies to design and enforce this framework. At farm level, limited access to capital favors pond mismanagement and the use of
low-quality inputs. The absence of multi-stakeholder initiatives to foster dialog between actors in the value chain constrains the
response to new regulations dictated by international market demand. Because of shrimp farming’s connectivity with the wider
ecosystem, sustainable intensification in shrimp farming will require collective management of water resources at the landscape
level for disease and water pollution control. Ecological principles for pond management need to be promoted to farmers in order
to reduce farmers’ inefficient practices and build their capacity to understand new techniques and inputs available in the
Vietnamese market. Our paper demonstrates for the utility of a multi-level, multi-dimension, and multi-stakeholder aquaculture
innovation systems approach to analyze and address these blocking mechanisms in the transition to sustainable intensification in
shrimp farming and aquaculture more broadly.

Keywords Aquaculture innovation systems . Sustainable intensification . Sustainability transitions . Socio-ecological systems

1 Introduction between 1990 and 2010, and the aquaculture area has expand-
ed and production has intensified across the world. This has
Aquaculture systems have become important for the world’s happened especially in Asia, where 81% of world aquaculture
food and protein supply and are a key component of agri-food production is concentrated (FAO 2014). This spectacular
systems, supporting food security (Beveridge et al. 2013) and growth has not been without environmental, societal, and eco-
contributing to national and local economic growth by pro- nomic trade-offs (Hall 2004): the expansion of shrimp farm-
viding employment and business opportunities (Phillips et al. ing in Southeast Asia in the late 1990s and early 2000s pro-
2016). Aquaculture systems grew at a pace higher than 7% duced negative externalities such as the destruction of man-
groves (Hamilton 2013), pollution of local land and water
resources (Hatje et al. 2016), and indebtedness and reduced
* Laurens Klerkx access to land for small-scale farmers (Lutrell, 2006).
[email protected]
Negative impacts extend beyond production locations, as in-
tensive production systems are dependent on fishmeal and
1
Knowledge, Technology and Innovation Group, Wageningen fish oils used in pelleted feed (Tacon and Metian 2009) and
University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
replacement by vegetal proteins and oils such as soybean also
2
WorldFish, Phnom Penh, Cambodia has environmental impacts such as loss of biodiversity (WWF
3
College of Aquaculture, Can Tho University, Can Tho, Vietnam 2014).
34 Page 2 of 11 Agron. Sustain. Dev. (2018) 38: 34

Frequently, the sector has faced disease outbreaks, and re- the paper is to employ an innovation systems analysis frame-
cently in Southeast Asia, a new disease appeared with signif- work to first identify the types of constraints to sustainable
icant drops in production in Thailand and Vietnam intensification in shrimp farming and the stakeholders that re-
(Thitamadee et al. 2016). Producers, mostly smallholder produce those constraints, and then analyze how those con-
farmers, are constantly struggling to adapt to new environ- straints are interlinked and create blocking mechanisms that
mental and disease conditions while responding to con- hinder innovation toward sustainable intensification. In
sumers’ quality demands and being pushed by local govern- Section 2, we present our case study and the methodology used
ment to intensify their production to reach production targets to answer our research questions, before presenting and
(Jespersen et al. 2014). Although there have been successes in discussing the results (Section 3) and conclusions (Section 4).
initiating transitions toward more sustainable systems, with
for example producers’ uptake of quality standards for envi-
ronmental and social performance (Omoto and Scott 2016), 2 Material and methods
developing a sustainable and resilient sector that can also in-
tegrate smallholder producers remains a challenge. 2.1 Case study
Given that the aquaculture sector in Southeast Asia has
strongly intensified with negative consequences, calls have In Vietnam, the shrimp farming industry started in the early
been made to put more effort into making this a process of 1990s, and the cultivated area and production grew from
sustainable intensification (Little et al. 2016). The sustainable 230,000 ha and 56,000 metric tons in 1991 to 655,000 ha
intensification concept, widely used in agricultural research and 487,000 metric tons in 2012 (Hai et al. 2016).
for development (Wezel et al. 2015), comes from the analysis Production is localized in central Vietnam and the Mekong
that food production must be increased to achieve food secu- Delta. The latter region comprises 90% of the total shrimp
rity, but this must be achieved without negative externalities, farming area (both Penaeus monodon and P. vannamei) and
adopting a more integrated approach that encompasses the contributes 75% to national production. Therefore, we focus
ecological dimension of agriculture (Duru et al. 2015). It has our analysis on the three main producing provinces in the
been argued that sustainable intensification requires a range of Mekong Delta (Soc Trang, Bac Lieu, and Ca Mau provinces,
technological and socio-institutional innovations and the en- see Fig. 2) to include a wide array of production systems, from
gagement of different stakeholder groups (Struik et al. 2014). vertically integrated intensive farms to small-scale extensive
Therefore, to understand pathways for sustainable intensi- producers. The latter type of producers farm 90% of the cul-
fication, an approach is needed that takes into account com- tivated area and play a dominant role in total shrimp produc-
plex interactions between technological, social, and institu- tion (Hai et al. 2016). These three provinces were selected
tional dimensions (Wigboldus et al. 2016), deploying a sys- because the objective is to provide a comprehensive picture
tems approach to innovation (Wezel et al. 2015). However, a of the sector, embracing the diversity of production systems,
recent systematic review on approaches to innovation in aqua- biophysical conditions, and stakeholders, rather than
culture showed that innovation in this field is approached performing a comparative analysis of three case studies.
mainly from a technological viewpoint and focuses on under-
standing reasons for adoption/non-adoption of technologies 2.2 Analytical approach
by individual farmers at farm level (Joffre et al. 2017).
Meanwhile, the integration of aquaculture production systems We follow ideas from agricultural innovation systems think-
into global value chains, the influence of international stan- ing (Lamprinopoulou et al. 2014; Turner et al. 2016), in which
dards and national policies on production systems (Tran et al. innovation is perceived and analyzed as a transformative pro-
2013), and the connectivity of production systems to the wider cess of both technological and non-technological (institution,
socio-ecological system (Bush et al. 2010) influence sustain- regulatory framework, socio-cultural norms, and culture)
able intensification, calling for a more systemic approach to changes in agricultural systems. Spedding (1998) defines ag-
aquaculture innovation. As Joffre et al. (2017) argue, there has ricultural systems as operational units of agriculture, including
been limited application of systemic assessment models to all actors and organizations at local, regional, and national
identify barriers to innovation in aquaculture systems. Given level that are involved in the production, processing, and com-
that aquaculture can be seen as a form of animal farming, we mercialization of agricultural commodities. Hence, these can
deem it appropriate to employ systemic analysis frameworks be considered the production systems and the broader value
based on innovation systems thinking as applied in agriculture chains in which they are embedded. Innovation in agricultural
to assess aquaculture systems (Lamprinopoulou et al. 2014). systems take place across different scale levels (e.g., farm,
We take the shrimp sector in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam community, region) and often requires constraints beyond
(see Fig. 1) as a case to analyze the constraints on transforming the farm level to be resolved in order to create a conducive
the sector toward sustainable intensification. The objective of environment for innovation and on-farm technology adoption
Agron. Sustain. Dev. (2018) 38: 34 Page 3 of 11 34

Fig. 1 Left: Shrimp farmer

applying feed in a semi-intensive
shrimp production system. Right:
Google earth view of the My
Thanh River mouth in Soc Trang
province, Mekong Delta
(Vietnam), in August 2015,
illustrating the concentration of
shrimp ponds in the landscape

(Struik et al. 2014). Similar to the agricultural sector, aquacul- systems thinking building on seminal works such as those of
ture production systems and value chains, especially for Lundvall (1992), Dosi (2000), and Malerba (2002), which
shrimp as an export commodity, are strongly influenced by have also fed into the agricultural innovation systems ap-
food safety regulations and product quality, with the develop- proach (see Lamers et al. 2017, for a more extensive
ment of quality standards. Therefore, even if farms are central description of the conceptual links). The framework has been
to the innovation process, an analysis of the constraints to extensively used in the agriculture sector to assess innovation
innovation requires a framework that not only encompasses as a multi-stakeholder and multi-dimensional process in agri-
economic or technical dimensions, but also integrates bio- cultural innovation systems (Amankwah et al. 2012; Totin et
physical, institutional, and market structure dimensions. al. 2012; Lamprinopoulou et al. 2014; Kebebe et al. 2015;
Innovation is thus the outcome of a multi-stakeholder process Turner et al. 2016).
of actors linked to those dimensions, involving different value Given the similarities between agricultural and aquaculture
chain actors and their broader regulatory and support environ- production systems and value chains, we deemed this frame-
ment, which then jointly form an aquaculture innovation work appropriate for a multi-dimensional analysis of con-
system (Doloreux et al. 2009; Joffre et al. 2017). straints hindering innovation processes linked to the function-
For our analysis, we use an analytical framework based on ing of the aquaculture innovation system in Vietnam. We use
innovation systems thinking that enables a systematic analysis the framework as applied earlier in agricultural contexts, but in
and classification of well-established categories of constraints this case, the novelty lies in its first application to shrimp
(also referred to as weaknesses, failures, or problems) in inno- farming. Earlier work on aquaculture innovation systems
vation systems and that connects this with stakeholders that (Doloreux et al. 2009) has focused mainly on analyzing inno-
cause or reproduce those constraints (Klein Woolthuis et al. vation support organizations such as research, extension, and
2005; Van Mierlo and Leeuwis, 2010; Wieczorek and Hekkert training organizations and has not used this comprehensive
2012). This analytical framework is an iteration in innovation analytical framework. A similar framework based on the same

Fig. 2 Study area (Ca Mau, Bac

Lieu, and Soc Trang provinces) in
the coastal zone of the Mekong
Delta, Vietnam
34 Page 4 of 11 Agron. Sustain. Dev. (2018) 38: 34

principles has been used recently in analyzing aquaponics constraints selected by each group were then grouped into four
(König et al., 2018). main problematic issues during the workshop. The grouping
We adopt a two-step analytical approach. In the first ana- resulted from a consensus among the different stakeholder
lytical step, the constraints and the reasons behind them are groups and was facilitated by the research team during a partic-
classified in five categories of structural elements that affect ipatory exercise. The names chosen for those problematic is-
the functioning of the innovation system toward a given ob- sues were refined later during the analysis. From May to July
jective (in this case, sustainable intensification of aquaculture 2016, 32 individual in-depth interviews were conducted with
systems), namely constraints in physical and knowledge in- key informants from those stakeholder groups (3 intensive
frastructures, constraints related to hard and soft institutions, farmers, 6 extensive farmers, 7 government representatives, 7
and constraints in interactions and market structure (Table 1). NGOs and civil society, 6 private sector, and 3 research and
These constraints may refer to lock-in of the current system training) to deepen our understanding of the shrimp sector,
and rigidity toward change, or to deficiencies in the organiza- validate and triangulate the results from the workshop, and
tion of innovation. Using an analytical framework that in- identify the underlying causes of the constraints highlighted
cludes these categories of constraints allows a systemic anal- during the workshop. During both the workshop and the indi-
ysis of constraints, not limiting the analysis to just a technical vidual in-depth interviews, selected stakeholders were either
or socio-economic dimension. Recent studies in the aquacul- from the three coastal provinces or operating at sub-national
ture sector show the importance of also including institutional level (researchers, NGOs, private sector) in order to provide a
and biophysical dimensions in aquaculture (see Joffre et al. holistic view of the sector. In addition, secondary data in legal
2017, for a review). documents, regulations, plans for shrimp farming development,
The combination and interactions of constraints can generate and socio-economic data and data on the study sites were col-
systemic lock-in through so-called blocking mechanisms, lected to strengthen, validate, and triangulate the workshop and
which are causal loops of constraints (Turner et al. 2016; interview results.
Wesseling and Vooren, 2016). Therefore, in the second analyt-
ical step, we analyze the change capacity of the shrimp innova- Data availability statement All data are available upon request
tion system, looking at how the identified constraints interact to the authors.
and generate blocking mechanisms that negatively influence
the sector in its transition toward sustainable intensification.
3 Results and discussion
2.3 Data collection
3.1 Constraints to sustainable intensification
We used the Rapid Appraisal of Agricultural Innovation and underlying causes
System (RAAIS) stakeholder workshop methodology (Schut
et al. 2015) to collect information. We translated the RAAIS In this section, the analysis focuses on the constraints and
method previously used in agriculture to aquaculture (i.e., underlying causes that hinder innovation toward sustainable
Rapid Appraisal of Aquaculture Innovation System), where intensification, before we discuss how those constraints inter-
aquaculture is defined as the farming of aquatic organisms (fish, act to generate blocking mechanisms (Section 3.2). The anal-
mollusks, crustaceans, and aquatic plants) and includes rearing ysis is based on the main constraints identified during the
processes and husbandry techniques as in other types of animal workshop, complemented with in-depth interviews that pro-
production. RAAIS is a participatory assessment tool that aims vided information on underlying causes of the identified con-
to identify constraints to innovation and includes three compo- straints as well as relationship between constraints. When ap-
nents: (i) a multi-stakeholder workshop, (ii) in-depth interviews propriate, our analysis was complemented with secondary da-
with different stakeholder groups’ representatives, and (iii) sec- ta from literature. Our analysis reveals that the main problem-
ondary data collection to complement the analysis. The work- atic issues affecting shrimp producers and sustainable intensi-
shop, held in Can Tho University on May 18, 2016, included 22 fication are technical, biophysical, market, and socio-cultural.
representatives of six different stakeholder groups: intensive Using the analytical framework, we identify and classify the
farmers (2), extensive farmers (6), government representatives constraints relating to these problematic issues and their un-
(2), NGOs and civil society (3), the private sector (5), and derlying causes in various parts of the system and produced/
research and training (4). The starting point of the workshop reproduced by different stakeholders (Table 2).
was to identify the constraints and opportunities for sustainable
intensification of aquaculture production systems. The stake- 3.1.1 Water quality and climate variability
holder groups were guided through a series of participatory
exercises to identify, in each group, the top five constraints to According to stakeholders, the constraints affecting shrimp
achieving sustainable intensification in shrimp farming. The top farming include recent climatic variation with strong diurnal
Agron. Sustain. Dev. (2018) 38: 34 Page 5 of 11 34

Table 1 Categories of constraints relating to structural elements of the innovation system that hinder innovation (Klein Woolthuis et al. 2005; Van
Mierlo and Leeuwis, 2010)

Structural element Constraints

Infrastructure Physical (road, canals, railroad, electricity network) and knowledge infrastructure (extension and R&D centers for example).
Infrastructures can be absent or unsuitable for the current context, needs, and challenges. The cost of developing, improving,
or adapting those infrastructures is too high and cannot be made by individual system actors or cannot change rapidly,
thereby hindering innovation. In the case of a natural resource-based sector like aquaculture, this may also include the
ecological infrastructure.
Hard institutions Formal rules, laws, regulations, and sector strategies that are either missing, malfunction, or are not well coordinated.
Lack of regulation or lack of regulation enforcement hinders innovation by supporting existing (bad) practices.
Too rigid policies or rules constrain innovation because they constrain the development of novelties.
Absence of coordination of regulatory frameworks can result in inefficient enforcement,
failing to support innovation by favoring the status quo, or causing uncertainty for innovation actors.
Soft institutions Values, unwritten rules, and norms illustrated by: “the way business is done,”
keeping actors in repetitive practices and habits hampering change. They may also affect collaboration for innovation.
Interactions Either a too strong or a too weak interaction between actors. With too strong interactions, actors are locked into relationships
that hinder new ideas and exclude potential new collaboration. Conversely, weak interaction relates to unconnected
(or not well-connected) actors preventing knowledge exchange and the combination of knowledge and resources.
These two constraints indicate the need for balanced interactions, between openness and closure,
informal or formalized interactions, trust relationships or contracts.
Market structure Value chain organization and relations between actors such as monopoly, lack of transparency,
or inefficient market knowledge sharing between actors can hinder initiatives.

temperature variation increasing risk of disease in ponds, wa- increases farmers’ operational costs, and farmers might lose
ter pollution from upstream rice and shrimp farms, high water the benefit of an early harvest in the event of mass mortality in
salinity concentration, and waterways that are not fit for pur- the pond. Therefore, farmers rarely report diseases to DARD,
pose, limiting access to, and quality of, water for aquaculture thereby limiting the effectiveness of a disease management
in specific areas. Rapidly changing climate conditions and plan based on biosecurity control measures. There is also a
climate events are difficult to predict and it is difficult to mit- laissez-faire attitude, with an administration not inclined to
igate their effects on shrimp ponds, but water quality deterio- fine a farmer who is already struck by a disease in his/her
ration results from various constraints that perpetuate this sit- pond and who already faces financial issues.
uation and make it hard to change.
A first constraint relates to local conditions for raising 3.1.2 Low quality of inputs and post larvae
shrimp, which is highly dependent on water quality.
Stakeholders indicate that shrimp farms discharge heavy loads Access to inputs is not problematic. However, input quality
of nutrients into the canals, as well as water contaminated with suffers from a lack of enforcement of regulation concerning
disease, leading to the continuous presence of diseases in wa- not only the accessibility of banned products such as certain
terways. Inadequate land-use planning with high concentra- types of antibiotics (chloramphenicol, nitrofurans, fluoroquin-
tions of intensive farms, combined with waterways that are olones, and quinolones being the most common), but also the
too small in specific areas, increase water pollution. This prob- quality control of inputs sold (vitamins, additives, probiotics,
lem is accentuated by the landholding structure, with numer- and antibiotics).
ous small-scale farms of less than 0.5 ha unable to allocate A first constraint concerns access to banned products be-
30% of their land to a water treatment pond. cause of inadequate regulation. Decree 178 (2013) on sanc-
A second constraint concerns regulatory framework en- tions against administrative violations relating to food safety
forcement. Rules exist for water treatment and disease control, stipulates fines between 20 and 50 million VND for the use of
but those rules are not properly enforced by local extension banned chemical products or additives. Local authorities and
services (one staff member per district) due to lack of capacity exporters consider that this fine is not large enough in com-
to control all farms in areas with a high density of intensive parison to the potential financial benefits of selling those
farming. A similar lack of regulation enforcement applies to banned products. Recently, the decree has been revised, and,
disease management. In the event of a disease outbreak, since mid-2016, infringements fall under the Criminal
farmers have to report to the local Department of Procedure Code and entail jail time. This type of sanction is
Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) for diagnostics expected to induce a change in the behavior of current
to decide on treatment. However, complying with this rule offenders.
34 Page 6 of 11 Agron. Sustain. Dev. (2018) 38: 34

Table 2 Constraints to sustainable intensification in shrimp farming in the Mekong Delta (Vietnam), underlying reasons, and stakeholder group
producing/reproducing them

Problematic issue selected Constraints connected Underlying reason Type of constraint Stakeholders related to,
by stakeholders to problematic issue for constraint causing, and reproducing
the problematic issue

Unpredictable climate Waterway unfit for purpose Inadequate land-use planning Infrastructural Government
conditions and water Lack of land for water treatment Hard institutional Farmers
pollution Lack of enforcement of rules Lack of capacity Hard institutional Government
regarding water discharge
Individualist behavior Additional cost Soft institutional Farmers
regarding disease and
waste management
Low quality of inputs Weak enforcement of Lack of capacity and infrastructure Hard institutional Government Suppliers
and post larvae regulatory framework Complex regulatory framework Infrastructural
and overlapping responsibilities Interactional
Access to banned products Lack of capacity to enforce regulation Hard institutional Government
Farmers
Suppliers
Mismanagement and Low farmer awareness Lack of knowledge transfer Interactional Farmers Government
local practices regarding standard Policy focus on productivity Knowledge Private sector advisors
requirements, pollution, target and intensification Infrastructural
and pond ecology process Hard institutional
Farmers’ limited trust of Lack of exchange and dialog Soft institutional Government
extension and private Private sector’s vested interests Interactional Farmers
sector service providers Suppliers
Private sector advisors
Limited access to credit Too high risk for financial sector Hard institutional Credit providers
Market knowledge and Absence of mechanisms to International market difficult Hard institutional Government
export requirements mitigate market price to regulate
fluctuations
Lack of coordination between Limited infrastructure to support Interactional Government
value chain actors to joint learning and cooperation Knowledge Processors
establish quality standards Numerous actors and producers Infrastructural Farmers
and facilitate market access to organize Exporters
to smallholders Traders

A second constraint concerns the less-than-perfect imple- provincial and district level, and a dedicated department within
mentation of input quality regulation. Inputs (feed, probiotics, provincial DARDs to implement control. The underlying rea-
antibiotics, and other additives) are sold through 1799 regis- son for the gap between existing rules and their enforcement
tered retail shops, and thus considerable resources are required lies in limited infrastructure and limited knowledge and capac-
to control both production and retails shops regarding the qual- ity in the responsible department. Human resources—one
ity of the inputs reaching the market. In addition, regulation is DARD staff member per district and one per commune—and
complex, with overlapping responsibilities, because three min- laboratories were inadequate to control the 90 billion PLs pro-
istries—the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development duced by 1750 hatcheries in the country in 2015. At local level,
(MARD), the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of DARD staff members have to control imports from other prov-
Industry and Trade—design and issue specific implementing inces with for example 19 billion PLs imported by truck every
regulations. The MARD alone has released 19 circulars regu- year into Soc Trang province. In addition, they have to control
lating food safety, and the Ministry of Health has brought in 15 PLs locally produced in numerous small-scale hatcheries. In
legal documents guiding the Law on Food Safety (2010) and Ca Mau province, 40% of 16 billion PLs are produced locally
54 national technical regulations on food safety. in 870 hatcheries.
Similar inefficient quality control is found for post larvae The laboratories necessary to control PL quality are not
(PLs), with non-disease-free PLs present on the market. In the sufficient in the growing area or are located too far away from
Mekong Delta, there is an estimated infection rate of around farms, increasing the overall production cost for small-scale
54%, and only 38.5% of the PLs are tested for disease before farmers. As an example, the test for white spot syndrome virus
stocking (Hai et al. 2016). The regulatory framework for the costs 7 USD or 160,000 VND/sample, not to mention the
control of PL quality and the operation of hatcheries is well additional transport cost to the laboratory. In the in-depth in-
designed, with standard procedures, control stations at terviews, the limited technical capacity of laboratory staff was
Agron. Sustain. Dev. (2018) 38: 34 Page 7 of 11 34

indicated as a constraining factor. Farmers do not trust the reasonably literate to develop a full proposal to submit to the
certification of disease-free PLs, which is supposed to guar- bank. Consequently, farmers seek informal in-kind loans from
antee the quality of the product for buyers. Like the other input suppliers (feed, PLs, chemicals) or informal monetary
inputs, PL quality suffers from inadequate infrastructure and loans—sometimes at prohibitive interest rates (12% for the
hard institutional constraints. These constraints take the form duration of the crop: 3 to 5 months). This type of access to
of weak enforcement of a regulatory framework that does not financial capital induces them to choose lower quality inputs
reflect the current context and that would require more effi- and to seek quick, high returns to cover their debts.
cient control systems and a major investment to upgrade the
capacity of the institutions in charge of quality control. 3.1.4 Market knowledge and export requirements

3.1.3 Pond (mis)management and local practices Stakeholders identified market knowledge, market regulation,
and market requirement problems. First, regarding market
A first constraint concerns training that is more oriented to- knowledge, farmers face issues regarding market access costs.
ward the use of inputs to control disease and increase produc- Small-scale farmers cannot sell directly to processing compa-
tivity and less oriented toward pond ecology principles and nies or wholesalers because of their low production volume
sustainable intensification. One cause of this productivity ori- (under 100 kg per harvest in the case of extensive farmers) and
entation is national policy, which aims to achieve increasingly do not have direct access to information on current market
high production targets, with for example the 2013 plan for prices offered by processing factories. Each factory sets the
aquaculture aiming at shrimp production of 700,000 metric buying price according to its demand, which can differ from
tons in 2020 (about 500,000 metric tons in 2013) and a reve- the official market price broadcast in the media, and specific
nue of 10 billion USD (Decision 1445/2013/ QD-TTg). These connections with processing factories are required to access
targets push provincial and district level authorities to intensi- this “real” price. This type of problem arises from a lack of
fy production. Government research programs are oriented interactions between small-scale farmers and processing com-
toward intensification of production systems, and limited re- panies, as well as from current informal contracts between
search and interventions focus on other dimensions of shrimp traders and small-scale producers.
production (pond ecology, market, or value chain organiza- A second constraint concerns market price fluctuation.
tion). A recent study by Boyd and Engle (2017) in Vietnam Farmers and other stakeholders are aware that farm-gate prices
reveals that more than 90 different types of inputs used by are dependent on other countries’ production, currency ex-
shrimp farmers, several of which are banned, do not have change values, and demand on the US, EU, Japanese, or
proven effects on the pond environment and yet still increase Chinese markets. For example, between 2015 and 2016, the
production costs. According to stakeholders, farmers’ capaci- Penaeus monodon (grade 25–30 pcs) price increased by 44%,
ties to critically assess new technologies and to choose a tech- from 250,000 VND/kg to 360,000 VND/kg, within a 10–15-
nology (or a type of input) are challenged by the diversity of day period (http://www.seafood.vasep.com.vn/; accessed
products available on the market and sometimes by contradic- September 2016). Farmers indicate that such price fluctuation
tory messages from diverse suppliers. increases the uncertainty of their profit and limits their
A second constraint relates to the limited trust in private investment. Underlying problems relate to the absence of
sector advisors because of their interest in selling products. institutions to partially regulate the market price, the absence
Farmers’ limited capacity and knowledge in relation to pond of market mechanisms to reduce market risk for farmers, and a
ecology induces misuse of products and pond mismanage- lack of interaction and knowledge infrastructure to exchange
ment, according to interviews with local extension services, information and facilitate the integration of smallholders into
the private sector, and farmers. The limited interactions be- the market.
tween researchers and farmers, as well as the lack of infra- A third constraint relates to export market requirements.
structure facilitating farmers’ access to knowledge, limit the This constraint derives from a lack of interactions and the ab-
trust between knowledge providers (extension services, pri- sence of a knowledge infrastructure. In 2015, 38 countries
vate sector advisors) and farmers. returned 582 batches of Vietnamese aquaculture products (not
Finally, pond mismanagement and the use of low-quality only shrimp) due to antibiotic contamination. The inefficient
inputs are influenced by the lack of access to credit. Although control of antibiotic residues in the raw material leads to the
infrastructures to access credit are in place, farmers’ access to banning of the exported seafood products, fines for the ex-
credit is in practice limited. After the golden age of shrimp porters, and reputational damage to exporters and processing
farming in Vietnam and the frequent failures due to diseases, companies, affecting the entire value chain. The underlying
private banks are now stricter about providing loans to causes, besides access to banned products, are multiple. First,
farmers. For example, 70% of shrimp farmers’ land is under processing companies source 96% of the farmed shrimp from
mortgage in Bac Lieu province, and farmers need to be wholesalers (Tran et al. 2013) working with hundreds of small
34 Page 8 of 11 Agron. Sustain. Dev. (2018) 38: 34

collectors and farmers. According to stakeholders, this structure degradation of the local environment and reinforces farmers’
limits not only the traceability of products and practices, but belief in using additional inputs in the pond. Recent studies
also the exchange of knowledge and information about new (Boyd and Engle 2017; Engle et al. 2017) also identify the di-
regulations and standards, as there is no proper knowledge versity of inputs and their overuse by Vietnamese shrimp farmers
infrastructure. Stakeholders also indicate a weak control system as a cause of shrimp farm economic inefficiency. The vibrant
at processor and exporter level, with only a small sample of market for aquaculture inputs in Vietnam is difficult to control,
every shipment tested and untrustworthy results. Although cer- with both imported and locally produced inputs, and several
tification of aquaculture is promoted in Vietnam, it is limited. ministries involved in quality control with overlapping responsi-
Only 19 industrial farms were certified by the Aquaculture bilities and unsatisfactory coordination between those entities.
Stewardship Council in 2015. Benefits from certification are Inefficient and often unsustainable practices are partially caused
unclear for small-scale farmers. Certification is not always pos- by farmers’ limited knowledge regarding pond ecology and by
sible due to lack of infrastructure or land. It requires a large farmers receiving productivity-oriented training from the exten-
investment for producers, and benefits are limited, with no sion service and the private sector, reinforcing their belief in
premium price (except for product certified as organic). The additional inputs to control disease or increase productivity.
limited benefit in comparison to the investment required dis- This first blocking mechanism relates to several interlinked
courages farmers from seeking certification. In response to this categories of structural elements that affect the functioning of
constraint, the Vietnamese Government launched a national the innovation system, such as hard institutions (i.e., lack of
standard, VietGap, which is not yet recognized internationally, enforcement of regulatory frameworks on input quality and
and local stakeholders are questioning this certification process, uses, lack of controls of water discharge in canals) and weak
which does not include a third-party certification body. interactions between ministries, leading to a limited enforce-
Shrimp production systems are technically complex. They ment of the regulatory framework. In addition, the lack of a
are changing fast, with frequent technological innovations knowledge infrastructure (i.e., absence of platforms to facili-
promoted by the private sector not necessarily adapted to the tate interaction between ministries, lack of laboratories to con-
Mekong Delta context and to farmers’ perceptions and moti- trol diseases) supports the continuation of malpractices, a con-
vations. Our analysis shows that collaboration and interactions straint that relates to soft institutions (i.e., a belief in input-
between actors in the sector are not performing adequately. oriented solutions that supports high use of antibiotics).
The absence of a knowledge infrastructure and inadequate Policies oriented toward intensification, and limited politi-
hard and soft institutions do not support interactions between cal will to regulate better the input market, support this causal
value chain stakeholders to achieve market requirements and loop and constrain the capacity to change toward sustainable
better market knowledge and access for smallholders. practices. To interrupt this loop, changes are required in vari-
ous structural elements of the innovation system, such as a
3.2 Discussion of blocking mechanisms of interlinked political will to invest in reforming both the regulatory frame-
constraints for sustainable intensification in shrimp work and the responsibilities of institutions in charge of con-
aquaculture in Vietnam trolling input quality and farmers’ (mal)practices. This solu-
tion will require capacity building within government agen-
From our findings, we identify three clusters of constraints cies (or other third-party certifiers) to apply this framework. In
that form blocking mechanisms (Fig. 3): (a) inadequate regu- addition, infrastructure needs to be created to promote dialog
latory frameworks to control inputs and practices, (b) limited between actors in the sector to improve product quality along
financial return and access to credit keeping farmers in unsus- the segments of the value chain and to be able to respond to
tainable practices, and (c) productivity- and intensification- international market quality requirements.
oriented policies supported by linear technology transfer. We
explain how each blocking mechanism is constituted and re- 3.2.2 Blocking mechanism 2: limited financial return
flect on what would be needed to relieve each of the identified and access to credit maintaining a minimum investment
blocking mechanisms. attitude among farmers

3.2.1 Blocking mechanism 1: institutional and regulatory A second blocking mechanism, linked to the first, concerns
framework enforcement problems limited access to financial capital. This lack of financial capital
pushes farmers to choose less expensive inputs, often of medi-
A first blocking mechanism starts with the weak implementation ocre quality, thus increasing the chance of limited productivity
of the regulatory framework to control input quality, making a and diseases outbreaks, while contributing to economic ineffi-
wide range of low-quality or even banned products accessible to ciency. As a feedback loop, frequent disease outbreaks restrict
farmers. Limited enforcement of regulatory frameworks on access to loans from banks, which are now asking farmers to
wastewater and disease management contributes to the develop proper proposals and proof of past success before they
Agron. Sustain. Dev. (2018) 38: 34 Page 9 of 11 34

Fig. 3 Connections among constraints that hinder sustainable intensification. Arrows represent connections between constraints within
intensification in shrimp farming in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. a, b, the blocking mechanisms and connections between the three blocking
and c Represent the three blocking mechanisms that hinder sustainable mechanisms

will authorize loans. Farmers resort to informal loans, with high on external inputs for feed and on farm biosecurity measures (e.g.,
interest rates requiring quick returns to repay their loans, thus fencing, pond disinfection) to control the interaction of the pond
influencing technological choices toward low-quality and system with the wider ecosystem. Shrimp ponds are connected to
cheaper inputs. The core cause of this blocking mechanism thus the ecosystem through waterways, and this means that ponds can
lies in a lack of hard institutions facilitating access to capital for easily be affected by water pollution and diseases. In the Mekong
shrimp farmers. Access to credit for small-scale farmers could Delta context, with its multitude of smallholders concentrated in a
be reformed to encourage sustainable practices and discourage monoculture landscape resulting from inadequate land-use plan-
access to informal loans and the associated pond management ning, disconnecting ponds from the local ecosystem and applying
practices. Promoting practices based on pond ecology, limiting strict biosecurity measures is unrealistic according to extension
the use of unnecessary inputs, can reduce operational produc- services and farmers. This last blocking mechanism relates to
tion costs, which increase sharply when inefficient inputs are multiple problems with structural elements of the innovation sys-
used (Boyd and Engle 2017). tem. Current pond management practices and productivity are
directly related to soft and hard institutions supporting input-
3.2.3 Blocking mechanism 3: a productivity-oriented oriented solutions to ecological problems. In addition, there is a
approach to shrimp farming at pond level lack of physical infrastructures, or rather ecological infrastructures
are not scaled to the density of shrimp farms in the coastal land-
A third blocking mechanism concerns limited training on pond scape, to enhance an adequate and ecologically sound (as opposed
ecology principles to improve farmers’ management capacities, to ecologically unsound) connectivity between culture areas and
linked to an intensification policy illustrated by increasing produc- the wider ecosystem.
tion targets. There is limited training on input use (such as To mitigate this blocking mechanism, a paradigm shift will
minerals, pre-mix, and other additives) to build farmers’ confi- be required in how shrimp aquaculture is promoted in the
dence in evaluating new products on the market, but the paradigm Mekong Delta in Vietnam. A greater emphasis must be placed
whereby technical solutions can resolve sustainability issues in on the pond ecology principle to conduct shrimp farming and
shrimp aquaculture is still strong in the discourse of extension create a pond ecosystem resilient to disease, where the disease
services and government policies in Vietnam. A related aspect vector can be present in the pond but outbreaks are not trig-
of intensification policy is that current private and public sector gered (Hoa et al. 2011). Acknowledging the connectivity of
extension services, supported by national research, promote inten- ponds to, and their dependence on, the wider ecosystem will
sification of shrimp production systems relying heavily (or solely) enable a landscape approach to better control disease
34 Page 10 of 11 Agron. Sustain. Dev. (2018) 38: 34

outbreaks and improve wastewater management (Bush et al. various agencies involved in controlling and regulating the sector
2010). This will require adequate investment in infrastructure and value chain must be defined. Multi-stakeholder dialog in
and in the capacity of extension services to enforce the regu- terms of joint agenda setting and participatory innovation (see
lations necessary for a landscape approach to aquaculture. Dentoni and Klerkx 2015) is not common in a centralized gov-
ernment such as that of Vietnam (Minh et al. 2010). Therefore,
initiating such dialog will require not only adaptation to the local
4 Conclusion institutional context and a gradual introduction of institutional
innovation, but also a behavioral change by the actors in the
Research on aquaculture innovation covers a wide array of sector toward more information exchange and collaboration.
approaches (Joffre et al. 2017). Although it has been shown
to be useful to perform a holistic and integrated analysis, the Acknowledgements Support of VSNU for enabling open access publi-
cation of this paper is gratefully acknowledged.
use of an aquaculture innovation systems approach has been
limited. Farm-level analysis is both the usual level of analysis
Author contributions O.M.J. and L.K. designed the research, the meth-
in aquaculture and the proposed intervention level to achieve odology, and the analytical framework; O.M.J and T.N.D.K. collected
sustainable intensification (Engle et al. 2017). However, a and analyzed data; and O.M.J and L.K. wrote the paper.
main theoretical implication of our study is that it is essential
to look at different levels (farm, value chain, policy environ- Funding information This study forms part of the Nutritious-system pond
ment) and dimensions in aquaculture systems and value farming in Vietnam project. Funding support for this study was provided by
Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research WOTRO Science for
chains using an aquaculture innovation systems approach. Global Development (NWO-WOTRO) and the CGIAR Research
Our analysis is the first aquaculture innovation system Program on Fish Agri-Food Systems (FISH).
analysis, going beyond only technical or economic dimen-
sions, in order to better inform interventions to support a tran- Compliance with ethical standards
sition toward the sustainable intensification of aquaculture.
Our analysis applied mainly similar constraint categories Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of
(physical and knowledge infrastructure constraints, institu- interest.
tional and interaction constraints, and market structure con- Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative
straints) as applied to sectors such as agriculture. In addition Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://
however, we have shown that the biophysical dimension and creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appro-
the ecological infrastructure need to be explicitly recognized,
priate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the
as most aquaculture systems are linked to, and dependent on, Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
the wider ecosystem. This addition of an ecological dimension
to the analytical framework echoes an earlier call advocating
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