“Affordable” investment capital

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Chin, Head of Huynh Gian Nam Village, Phuoc Hoa Township (Tuy Phuoc District, Binh Dinh), there are 130-140 hectares of water area for shrimp and crab farming in this village alone. if incl. The whole village of Huynh Gian Bac covers an area of ​​about 300 ha.

Most farmers here raise shrimp through improved extensive farming, integrated aquaculture rather than specialized shrimp farming. These local industrialized shrimp farming households are rare and don’t count 10 fingers, but most are in dire straits due to constant losses to disease.

“The households of intensive shrimp farming in Huynh Gian Nam Village invest large sums of money to renovate ponds and lakes, raise the ground, hem the tarpaulin, raise the banks, dig sedimentation ponds, farm ponds, buy oxygen generators, etc. 500- 700 million VND, but effective farming only in the first year, next year there will be an epidemic, losing money immediately. Those who “try to eat sticky rice” in the next harvest to continue farming to remove antlers are piling on deeper debt because the water here is heavily polluted. This is an area directly affected by tidal waters so there is no way to stop it if the tide rises,” said Mr Nguyen Van Chin.

Mr. Chin said that every year after the rainy and stormy season in early March of the solar calendar, people start renovating ponds and releasing seeds for breeding. The process of improving ponds in shrimp and mixed fish farming does not cost as much as intensive shrimp farming.

Before stocking, farmers just need to drain all the water in the pond. Every household that can afford it hires buffalo and cows to till and plow the pond bottom, then lime to kill contaminants and reduce alum. Use 2-3 tons of lime for large ponds and 1 ton for small ponds. Drain the water, get water 3-4 times to remove all the impurities in the pond, then it’s safe to lift it.

“When the bottom of the pond is clean, farmers bring in water at a level of about 1 to 1.2 m. We buy seeds strictly according to the recommendations of the State Agricultural Advisory Center. Black Tiger Shrimp seed purchased from reputable farms for shrimp quality, disease resistance and fast growth, shrimp size 3cm/head.

Buy 1.5cm/person blue crab seeds. Sour fish buy seeds with a size of 4-6cm/fish. The stocking density for shrimp is only 10 fish/m2, blue crabs 0.2 fish/m2, sour fish 0.1 fish/m2. Especially for shrimp species, there are households that buy postlarvae shrimp to be reared after one month and there are households that buy ready-made shrimp to be kept,” said Mr. Nguyen Van Chin.

According to Mr. Chin, 80% of farming households in Huynh Gian Nam village buy seed crabs from wild fishermen caught in the creeks of rivers, so-called counting crabs, and pay as much as they count. Natural crabs with sizes of 2 – 4 cm are sold for VND 5,000 – 6,000/head. The remaining 20% ​​of farming households buy crabs from Cat Tien Fisheries Research Station in Phu Cat District, a unit of Binh Dinh Agricultural Breeding Center. Crabs raised as small as peppers are sold in trays (1,000 fish/tray) for VND 500,000/tray. As for sour fish, scorpion fish buy 6,000-7,000 VND/seedling.

“Shrimp farming with crab and fish is a small investment, 1 ha of ponds at the beginning of the harvest only costs about VND 25-30 million to buy seeds, pellets only for black tiger shrimp is the main thing. Blue crabs buy trash fish to cook and spread around the pond to feed. Sour fish mainly eat algae in the pond and eat leftover shrimp pellets. This makes it less likely that the pond will be contaminated by leftover food,” said Nguyen Van Chin.

Every night is full of millions

Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh (46 years old) from Binh Thoi Village, Phuoc Thuan Township (Tuy Phuoc District, Binh Dinh), who owns a 2.5 ha integrated aquaculture pond. Till now, Mr. Thanh has been breeding shrimp and crab fish for more than 10 years. Covering an area of ​​2.5 ha of ponds per harvest, Mr. Thanh releases 30,000-40,000 varieties of black tiger shrimp, in an auspicious year he releases 50,000-60,000 when he releases 600,000 shrimp seeds costs Thanh more than 10 million VND. In addition, Mr. Thanh has harvested 2-3,000 kinds of blue crabs and about 8,000 fishes in the same area with more than VND 10 million in seeds.

“For 2.5 ha of ponds, I invest in the construction of the ponds every year, buy seeds twice, and the feed cost for the whole crop is only about VND 60-70 million. In a year when the weather is not favorable, I earn about 300 million dongs, in a favorable year 500-600 million dongs. I’ve reared into cover crops and pruning so I harvest every night. Only after the pond is flooded with tidal water do we stop harvesting for a few days to allow the shrimp, crab and fish to stabilize before we can harvest again,” said Vo Van Thanh.

According to Mr. Thanh, farmers can start harvesting after about 2-3 months. Fishermen harvest shrimp with cage net. When the shrimp farming reaches 40 shrimp/kg, then use a thin net, the mesh is 12-15 to catch the big shrimp, put them in the net and the small shrimp come out for further breeding.

Crabs and fish are caught with a net, the crabs are the right size and need to be sold, which are small and dropped to continue breeding. During harvest season, farmers add weed seeds for year-round feeding. Prawns are stored twice a year, once in early March and once in early June. Harvest in the rainy season, no more sowing seeds, just digging so that the rain flows back to the farmers without loss.

“The harvest only catches crabs and juveniles that can be sold, if not they are released for further breeding, so the new harvest is very effective. When the weather is warm and sunny, shrimp, crab and fish go out to eat a lot, I catch a lot, when it’s cold at night I catch less seafood.

Usually every night I collect 3-7 kg of shrimp, 4-5 kg ​​of crab, more fish, some evenings I collect 5-7 kg, some evenings I collect 20-30 kg. Green crab currently costs 150,000 VND/kg; Sour fish of 8 ounces/fish or more is sold at VND80,000/kg; Black tiger shrimp with a size of 30 pieces/kg is currently priced at VND 280,000/kg; A shrimp size of 20 pieces/kg costs VND 320,000/kg. On average, I earn 1-1.5 million VND per night selling seafood,” said Mr. Vo Van Thanh.

In addition to shrimp, crab and fish being stocked, aquaculturists also have additional annual income that “falls out of the sky” from land shrimp. According to Mr. Nguyen Van Chin, Head of Huynh Gian Nam Village, Phuoc Hoa Township (Tuy Phuoc District, Binh Dinh), wild shrimp eggs washed ashore in the wild, hatched and lived in the pond earning up to 50 million VND/year, almost enough to cover the investment costs for the whole year on an area of ​​1ha.

Last year the price of land shrimp was 280,000 – 300,000 VND/kg, now it has dropped to 250,000 VND/kg, farmers can catch 4-5 kg ​​​​per night. With 1 hectare of integrated aquaculture ponds, farmers invest about VND 50-60 million, from the cost of constructing ponds and buying seeds, the revenue from shrimp alone is almost enough to cover these costs. The remaining income from shrimp, crab and fish farming is about 150-180 million VND/ha, which is the annual net profit of farmers.

“It is not possible to have billions of money like the specialized shrimp farming through industrial methods, but the mixed cultivation of shrimp, crab and fish is not afraid of losses, keeping 150-180 million dongs of profit every year is enough, to live a stable life. This is suitable for seniors who cannot work in a company like young people, but having that income every year is nothing,” said Mr Nguyen Van Chin.