Mr. Le Van Sam (67 years old), with a gentle face, always smiling when talking - is no stranger to the people in Thanh Hai commune, Thanh Phu district, Ben Tre. Ba Sam is the affectionate, familiar name that people often call him. He is considered the first person to start the high-tech shrimp farming movement in the locality.
Mr. Le Van Sam, commonly known as Ba Sam, shares his experience in getting rich from technological shrimp farming. Photo: HT
At the newly built billion-dollar villa, Mr. Ba Sam happily shared with VietNamNet reporter : "This year, Uncle Ba had a big shrimp crop, with a profit of several tens of billions."
Mr. Ba Sam is a retired government official, originally from the coastal province of Ben Tre. More than 20 years ago, this man became attached to shrimp, although at that time the local shrimp farming industry was not yet developed. At that time, his family had 5 hectares of water surface to raise shrimp in the traditional way. In the first years of the shrimp crop, the profit was not high.
In the following crops, Mr. Ba Sam failed due to lack of experience in handling ponds, wastewater, and infected and dead fish, causing consecutive losses and having to borrow money from many places. At times, he planned to sell his land and house, quit his job and switch to another field.
Mr. Ba Sam and the high-tech shrimp farm covered with a white roof. Photo: HT
At this time, he learned that many farmers in Ca Mau and Bac Lieu had made big profits from high-tech shrimp farming.
At the same time, he was introduced by a aquaculture company and invited to visit and learn about high-tech shrimp farming models in the two provinces above. Here, he learned many valuable experiences about shrimp.
After the process of learning, researching and summarizing, Mr. Ba Sam realized that shrimp farming in the direction of high-tech agriculture brings many benefits such as: Controlling the farming environment, managing diseases, and increasing harvest productivity compared to traditional farming.
In early 2015, he decided to raise shrimp using high technology. Right from the first crop, he earned a large profit. "At that time, seeing that other people invested effectively but the capital was too high, I only dared to experiment with building a 1,000m2 pond, more than 200 million VND. Unexpectedly, in the first crop, I hit the jackpot with 8 tons of shrimp, earning more than 800 million VND," Mr. Sam confided.
Since then, the Ben Tre man has gradually switched to high-tech shrimp farming.
According to him, each hectare of land can only raise 1,000 - 2,000m2, the remaining area is invested in roads, settling ponds, and ready ponds, with a total cost of more than 1 billion VND. Compared to the traditional model, the cost of high-tech shrimp farming is many times higher, but the efficiency is higher, with profits from the first crop and sustainable development.
Thanks to the correct application of technical processes, Mr. Ba Sam's shrimp farming always gives high productivity.
“Recently, I harvested 2 off-season shrimp farms with an area of 3 hectares of water surface, yielding 134 tons, with a profit of about 16 billion VND, after deducting expenses,” he shared.
Thanks to the high-tech shrimp farming model, Mr. Ba Sam now owns a property of nearly 50 hectares of land. Each hectare of water surface area yields 50-70 tons, sometimes 100 tons. After deducting expenses, he earns a profit of 30-50 billion VND per year.
His shrimp farm also received support from the Ben Tre Department of Agriculture to build a farming area that meets ASC standards (strict international standards on environment, society, animal welfare and food safety). Thanks to meeting ASC standards, the shrimp price is 5,000 VND/kg higher than the market price.
Shrimp harvesting at Mr. Ba Sam's family farm. Photo: EX
According to the leader of the Ben Tre Farmers Association, Mr. Sam is one of the first successful high-tech shrimp farmers in the province. His family's shrimp farms create stable jobs for about 50 local workers.
In 2023, he received the title of Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer.
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