Camimex's journey to sustainable shrimp farming

The southern Cà Mau province, located in the Mekong Delta, is home to Vietnam’s largest mangrove ecosystem, a natural 'blue carbon’ sink that sequesters up to five times more carbon than rainforests. These coastal forests serve as biodiversity hotspots and natural buffers from increasingly severe climate impacts. 

Yet, this resilience is under threat. Rising sea levels, coastal erosion and weather extremes, combined with man-made impacts, are degrading the mangroves, destroying crops and fisheries, and  jeopardising the livelihoods of the local communities who rely on them. 

One of the key climate-resilient responses is sustainable and integrated mangrove shrimp.  

Camimex, the second-largest shrimp processor in Vietnam, has emerged as a global leader in this respect, and thus has a key role in this fragile landscape.

The producer envisioned a nature-based solution (NbS) that is now increasing smallholder incomes, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, providing coastal protection and restoring biodiversity.  

This is a story of growth, resilience, and cooperation where the DFCD’s Origination Facility, managed by SNV and the World Wilde Fund for Nature Netherlands (WWF-NL), has supported the transformation of this vision into reality.  

Established in 1977 in the Cà Mau province, Camimex has grown into one of Vietnam's leading shrimp processors, operating three factories with an annual production capacity of 10,000 tons. The company sources shrimp from over 3,000 smallholder farmers, including 1,506 organic certified farmers, who farm on 8,500 hectares of integrated mangrove farms. The mangrove covers more than 45% of the area.  

Although Camimex had achieved strong results, investing in the aquaculture sector in Vietnam is considered high-risk, and the company needed support to address these challenges and prepare to be investment-ready to take its success to the next level.  

This is where backing from the Origination Facility played a pivotal role.

The Origination Facility bridges the gap between global climate finance and local resilience by identifying promising early-stage projects in vulnerable contexts, and helping develop them into ‘bankable’ solutions.

It provides grants and technical assistance for feasibility studies, environmental and social safeguard checks, business planning, and legal costs to prepare initiatives for larger investments. It therefore enables investments in climate adaptation projects that might otherwise be overlooked for funding, thus driving impactful, locally led climate and biodiversity solutions. 

In 2022, with support from the Origination Facility, Camimex began strengthening its operations to address key challenges and create a sustainable growth path. SNV worked with Camimex to set milestones to de-risk the business, making it investment-ready and aligned with stakeholder needs.  

To help farmers achieve organic certification requiring 50% mangrove cover, support included training, establishing Internal Control Systems, and launching a pilot mangrove planting initiative. Additional assistance involved testing a credit linkage model, expanding hatcheries, and conducting a blue carbon assessment to identify new income opportunities. 

Mentorship and grant funding also supported the company in creating an impactful intervention that aligns organic production with restoring critical areas.  

With a projected 16,500 hectares of sustainably managed agriculture, thousands of smallholder farmers impacted, and 10 million tonnes of CO2 sequestered by 2028, resilient systems, inclusive finance and local leadership are working together for meaningful impact.

Camimex's progress attracted the attention of FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank, resulting in the first investment by FMO in an Origination Facility project. By engaging FMO early in the process and through the Origination Facility, key risks could be addressed, creating conditions for co-benefits.  

These steps helped Camimex meet investment standards and strengthen its sustainable management practices. This culminated in a US$ 15 million loan from FMO in March 2024—an important milestone in the transition from early de-risking to significant capital.  

Mr. Dang Ngoc Son, General Director of Camimex explains: “Our journey with the DFCD, from origination support by SNV to a proposed investment by FMO, has been transformative. It has allowed us to pioneer practices that not only enhance the resilience of our operations against climate change but also ensure the sustainability of the ecosystems we depend on.” 

And the momentum is growing: The European Commission and Proparco have stepped in with further investment, validating a model that works for climate resilience, livelihoods and long-term market access.

Camimex's plans for expansion and impact are ambitious—bringing 16,500 hectares of wetlands under sustainable management, benefitting 12,000 people, and contributing to enhanced biodiversity while expanding processing capabilities by an additional 6,000 tons per year. The company is now implementing its 2022-2030 private sector transformation goals.

Camimex envisions becoming a global leader in organic shrimp farming, building on the support received through the Origination Facility. In the tapestry of the Mekong Delta, Camimex's story highlights the potential for businesses to balance growth with environmental stewardship. 

And the potential for impact goes beyond the Mekong Delta, offering lessons for collaboration on climate finance that can resonate across mangrove environments worldwide, such as Mombasa in Kenya, or the Sundarbans in Bangladesh and India, the world’s largest mangrove forest.

Watch this video to learn more about Camimex and the DFCD’s collaboration for a resilient Mekong Delta.