Tales from Two Deltas: Catfish Fillets, High-Value Foods, and Globalization

Abstract

This article examines two places of catfish production, the Mekong River Delta of Vietnam and the Mississippi River Delta of the United States, and uses the concept of globalization to illustrate how these distant places have been brought into competition and how this competition is mediated. Bringing these deltas together is a similar commitment to an economic development strategy that is based on catfish production, a desire to gain access to wealthy consumers who are willing to purchase this high‐value food item, and processing and transportation technologies that allow this perishable product to be made more “durable” and to be shipped great distances. Mediating this relationship are consumers' preferences, product labeling, and the U.S. state. This case study illustrates the heterogeneous outcomes of globalization as these deltas are brought into a relationship that, in some ways, is closer than their absolute distance may indicate. The “backlash” forces, such as nontariff trade barriers, nationalism, and a still‐powerful state (as both a regulator and consumer), characterize these globalizations.

Striped catfish farming in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam: a tumultuous path to a global success

“…Interestingly, Duval‐Diop and Grimes (2005) compared catfish production in the Mekong and Mississippi Deltas and used the globalization concept to illustrate how these very geographically and culturally different entities have been brought to competition and how this competition is mediated. The authors highlighted how a comparable commitment to an economic development strategy, such as catfish production, a desire to gain access to wealthy consumers who are willing to purchase this high‐value food item and processing and transportation technologies that allow this perishable product to be made more ‘durable’ and to be shipped great distances bring these two deltas together.…”

Value chain upgrading: Evidence from the Singaporean aquaculture industry

“…In exceptional circumstances, the fish can be found in brackish water. 2 He was not able to reveal the exact nature and the absolute figures of the support because of competitive reasons. 3 This firm was not interviewed despite attempts to approach its management.…”

“…This is particularly so in poverty-stricken regions such as Vietnam's Mekong Delta and Bangladesh's greater Khulna region which rely on the export-oriented production and marketing of prized aquaculture commodities as a growth strategy [2,3]. Despite its economic importance, there is still a relative paucity of research on aquaculture from the standpoint of economic geography, especially vis-à-vis the better-understood value chain research concerning the industrial goods and the broader agro-food sector.…”

The Economic Geographies of Aquaculture

“…The most insightful observation about the dichotomy between these ideal types is the theorization of commercial capital (often termed ‘big buyers’ in the GCC literature) as the lead firms that ‘call the shots’ for the many subordinate firms involved in the BDCC that they control, although they do not necessarily possess equity stakes in the firms actually producing the goods on their behalf (Bair , p. 159). While the apparel industry represents the archetype of the BDCC, examinations on the commodity chains of aquaculture products such as farmed salmon (Phyne and Mansilla ; Phyne ) and farmed catfish (Duval‐Diop and Grimes ) reflect a similar governance structure, in which ‘big buyers’ or lead firms in developed countries such as retailers and trading companies exercise disproportionate control over the other actors (not limited to farmers in developing countries) within the respective chains (Bair , p. 160).…”

“…They further posit that:

By identifying and facing the obstacles to creating an image of Vietnamese catfish as an exotic Asian product that is eaten at special occasions or as a necessary ingredient in a trendy dish (such as the famous New Orleans blackened redfish), Vietnamese catfish producers can create new niche markets. (Duval‐Diop and Grimes , p. 196)

…”