The recent bankruptcy of three seafood businesses has resulted in great losses of more than VND200 billion for hundreds of farmers in the Mekong Delta, according to preliminary statistics.  It has also caused dozens of businesses that deal in cattle feed and veterinary medicine to go into debt. In 2011 and early 2012, the Binh An Seafood Joint Stock Company and the An Khang Company,,Ltd in Can Tho, and the Van Hung private enterprise in Soc Trang, three large seafood enterprises in the Mekong Delta, ran up debts worth dozens of billions of VND they owned to banks and over VND300 billion to farmers.In late 2011, the An Khang Company in Tra Noc industrial park, Can Tho city, owed farmers nearly VND26 billion for fish it had bought, but the company could not pay them, leaving 26 farmers and nearly 1,000 labourers in the lurch. Le Minh Chien from O Mon district (Can Tho) said that An Khang owed him more than VND2 billion for the fish they had purchased from him and he already sent a petition to the Can Tho municipal People’s Committee and the police asking them to make the company pay him. Mr Chien said that dozens of households have sold fish to An Khang but are struggling to earn their living because the company fails to pay its debts.After the An Khang Company went into debt, commercial banks in Can Tho city began to tighten credit control, making it difficult for seafood enterprises to access capital. Binh An Seafood JSC in Tra Noc industrial park has still owed 40 farmers a total of VND261 billion.Nguyen Van Lien and Pham Thi Mai of Thot Not district (Can Tho) sold more than 800 tonnes of fish to Binh An Seafood in May 2011, but until March 6, 2012 the company still owed them nearly VND16 billion. The two farmers recently filed a lawsuit at the O Mon district People’s Court demanding that the company pay its debts to them. In the preliminary court session in mid-March, the company was forced to pay the two farmers a total of more than VND18 billion and additional losses against profits.As the lawsuit was time-consuming, the farmers had to sell their fish ponds at half price (VND2.5 billion) and work as hired hands to pay back their bank loans worth over VND15 billion with an interest rate of 1.8 percent per month.Thirty farmers in Soc Trang province also could not get paid for the fish they sold to the Van Hung private enterprise, which has still owed them around VND20 billion for fish purchases over the past three years. Local police are investigating these cases but it appears to be a long story before they are able to get their money back.VOV