Ben treWith nearly 50 hectares of high-tech shrimp farming land, each year Mr. Le Van Sam, 65 years old (Thanh Hai, Thanh Phu) earns a profit of 30-50 billion VND.
At noon in October, from his newly built billion-dollar villa, Mr. Ba Sam rode his motorbike about 2 km to the new 5-hectare pond area to check the progress of the work. At the camp area, a group of nearly 10 workers and an excavator are digging soil to build embankments.
Two ponds, each with an area of 1,600 m2, have had their bottom tarpaulin covered and the roof tension system completed. The remaining three ponds are completing the leveling of the pond bottom and installing the wastewater treatment system. Next to it, a power station costing nearly one billion VND has been installed.
Mr. Ba Sam’s high-tech ponds are covered with white roofs. Image: Hoang Nam
This land area was bought by Mr. Ba Sam from last year’s successful shrimp crop, plus renovation costs after more than a year, a total of about 15 billion VND. Looking from above, his high-tech shrimp farming plots with their white tarpaulin systems stand out among the traditional extensive farming ponds.
“It is expected that in 2 months these ponds will release the first crop and harvest after 4 months,” Mr. Sam said.
Coming from a coastal country, like many other farmers, Mr. Sam’s family became attached to shrimp 20 years ago, when local farming was not yet developed. The family has 5 hectares of traditional shrimp ponds, and the first years of the shrimp crop bring in relative profits.
In the following cases, due to lack of experience in water treatment and seed, the shrimp ponds were infected and died, Mr. Sam lost many consecutive cases and borrowed from many places. There was a time when he planned to sell his land and house, quit his job and move to another field.
However, seeing many farmers in Ca Mau and Bac Lieu win big when raising high-tech shrimp, he asked to follow the engineers of the aquatic feed company to learn in person.
Mr. Ba Sam checked the progress of work at the shrimp pond and just received phone calls from partners. Image: Hoang Nam
At that time, the old farmer’s eyes were opened to witness that the entire pond system was covered with a tarpaulin bottom and a roof above to control sun, wind, and disease, with a success rate of up to 90%. However, along with high profits, this method of farming has quite expensive initial investment costs.
“Each hectare of land can only raise 1,000-2,000 m2, the remaining area is invested in roads, settling ponds, and ready ponds, the total cost is about one billion VND, 20 times higher than traditional ponds,” Mr. Sam shared. .
Not daring to take risks, Mr. Sam conducted an experiment in raising 2 ponds, each 1,000 m2. Thanks to the correct application of technical processes, the first crop of shrimp yielded 8-9 tons per pond, Mr. Sam earned a profit of 1.6 billion VND.
In the following years, he continued to maintain a cautious strategy, not investing massively at once but using profits from the previous crop to buy more land and gradually expand the pond area.
Coming from a retired government official with no experience in the fisheries industry, he worked and concluded after each crop, designing his own pond depending on the characteristics of the land.
Mr. Ba Sam cited that many shrimp farming households were advised to dig round ponds with the aim of controlling the water environment and oxygen for shrimp. However, for many years he has still chosen the traditional rectangular pond. Because according to him, once you have mastered the technique, a traditional pond will save an area of about 300-400 m2 in the four corners compared to a round pond.
Shrimp harvest at Mr. Le Van Sam’s family farm. Image: Hoang Nam
According to the old farmer, high-tech shrimp farming can raise two crops a year, and the remaining time is used for pond treatment. On average, the investment cost for one kilogram of shrimp is about 80,000 VND. With an average shrimp price of 130,000 VND per kg of 30 shrimp, farmers earn a profit of 30,000-70,000 VND per kg of shrimp.
After more than 10 years of perseverance with the high-tech shrimp farming model, Mr. Ba Sam now owns nearly 50 hectares of land. Each hectare of water surface yields 50-70 tons, sometimes 100 tons. Minus expenses, he earns a profit of 30-50 billion VND a year. He has just received the title of Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer in 2023.
Mr. Nguyen Van Ban, Chairman of Ben Tre Farmers’ Association, commented that Mr. Sam is one of the first successful high-tech shrimp farming households in the province. His family’s shrimp farms also create stable jobs for about 50 local workers, with an average salary of 7-9 million VND per person a month.
Ben Tre currently has over 2,800 hectares of high-tech shrimp farming area concentrated in coastal districts such as Thanh Phu, Binh Dai and Ba Tri.
Hoang Nam