Young farmers in Nghe An and their journey to conquer the Luong Dinh Cua Award.

Ideas from the lecture hall

For many years, the high-tech shrimp farming model using a closed-loop recirculating system developed by young man Nguyen Huu Thang (born in 1997) in Hamlet 9, An Chau Commune, has been a familiar address for many traders. The uniform size and high-quality meat of the shrimp are the result of a closed-loop farming process, strictly controlled from the water source to the pond environment.

Standing beside his nearly 7-hectare shrimp farming system, Nguyen Huu Thang said that on average, the model yields 50 to 60 tons of commercial shrimp annually. Today's success is the culmination of a long process that Thang has nurtured and prepared since his university days. Equally important, this success is due to the effective and dedicated support from the Youth Union and his family.

Sharing his entrepreneurial journey, Thang said that he was born and raised in Dien Trung (formerly Dien Chau district) – a place where aquaculture is closely intertwined with the lives of many households. Like many young people his age in the coastal area, Thang's childhood was spent surrounded by ponds, lagoons, and the seasonal harvests of shrimp and fish. From these aquaculture farms, the lives of many families improved, and many households achieved economic stability. However, along with that came increasingly clear concerns as the shrimp farming environment gradually faced pressure from pollution, diseases became more complex, production efficiency was unstable, and it depended heavily on weather and traditional experience.

These concerns motivated Thang to quickly determine a path of study closely linked to the realities of his hometown. He chose and passed the entrance exam for the aquaculture major at Vinh University, hoping to acquire modern scientific and technical knowledge to find a more sustainable direction for the local shrimp farming industry.

From university lectures, Thang gradually connected theoretical lessons on aquatic biology, water environment, and diseases with the practical realities of aquaculture in his local area. Coupled with the fact that his family had a long tradition of shrimp farming, but mainly relied on old methods and hadn't boldly applied scientific and technological advancements, in 2017, while a second-year university student, Thang began to develop the idea of ​​building a high-tech shrimp farming model – the foundation for his later entrepreneurial journey.

For over a year, alongside his studies, Thang dedicated his time to practical research, proactively studying and comparing effective shrimp farming models both within and outside the province, gradually refining experiences suitable for local conditions. This process helped Thang develop a closed-loop, recirculating shrimp farming model that prioritizes water environment control and disease prevention from the outset, rather than reactively dealing with risks only after they have occurred.

By 2018, with the idea perfected through scientific evidence and clear feasibility, Thang boldly participated in the "Startup Ideas and Projects for Young People in Nghe An" competition and excellently won second prize overall.

The award is not only a recognition of an idea nurtured in the university classroom, but also opens up practical support for the road ahead. From this milestone, Thang received support from the Provincial Youth Union, including a loan of nearly 100 million VND, along with a commitment to support product traceability and food safety certification – crucial elements for the model to be implemented systematically and gradually access the market.

However, as Thang himself acknowledges, the award is just the beginning. Transforming a startup idea into an effective production model in practice requires more than just the determination of young people; it's a long journey with many challenges, setbacks, and lessons learned at the cost of time, effort, and resources.

The journey to turning dreams into reality.

In 2019, after graduating from university, Thang started working and learning from shrimp farming models both within and outside the province. In 2020, he decided to lease 8,000 square meters of land and invest in building a closed-loop recirculating shrimp farming system consisting of 3 rearing ponds and 2 water storage ponds, with a total investment of approximately 500 million VND. This capital came from support from the Youth Union, loans from the bank, and most importantly, the unwavering support, both financial and experiential, of his parents, who accompanied, shared, and facilitated his entrepreneurial endeavor.

However, failure came in the early stages. Incorrect handling of the probiotics led to shrimp infection from external sources, and the first farming season did not yield the expected results. "That was the first major setback," Thang frankly admitted. What bothered him, besides the economic loss, was the feeling of letting down those who had trusted him.

After that initial failure, Thang spent time researching the entire sustainable shrimp farming process, adjusting his operating methods, and proactively controlling the water environment and disease factors. From those lessons, in 2021, the farming season that Thang dedicated himself to achieved a revenue of 1.6 billion VND. After deducting operating costs and offsetting the losses from the first season, the model brought Thang renewed hope.

Starting from its initial foundation, Thang's model has gradually expanded, with each pond and each component being added and improved in a more systematic and scientific manner. By 2024, the closed-loop, high-tech shrimp farming system was basically operating stably on an area of ​​20,000m², including 6 rearing ponds and 4 water treatment ponds. Each rearing pond and each treatment pond is strictly controlled in terms of water source, biological products, and environmental conditions, ensuring uniform shrimp growth, firm flesh quality, and bright shell color. In the 2024 harvest season, Thang's farm achieved a revenue of 8.6 billion VND with a production of 56.5 tons of commercial shrimp.

However, in 2025, unusual natural disasters presented a new challenge. Some machinery, filtration systems, and pond infrastructure were affected, forcing Thang to replace, upgrade, and reinforce them to ensure uninterrupted production. During those months, he had to personally go down to the ponds to inspect and observe each one, simultaneously operating and training workers to ensure all processes were restarted correctly. This effort helped the model overcome difficulties, achieving revenue of over 10 billion VND with a production of over 60 tons of shrimp.

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Of course, within that 10 billion VND income, there are many expenses to cover, from machinery, operating costs, labor costs, breeding stock, feed costs, etc., so farmers have to try to balance the business equation.
In reality, success and risk always go hand in hand in production and business. The important thing is to be prepared with sufficient knowledge and courage to move forward.

Nguyen Huu Thang

In addition to its economic benefits, the model also creates stable jobs for 6 local young people and 4-6 seasonal workers, with an average income of approximately 11 million VND per person per month.

As someone who has been involved with Thang's model from the beginning, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Youth Union Ho Phuc Hai said that the journey of Nguyen Huu Thang - the only representative from Nghe An to be awarded the Luong Dinh Cua Prize by the Central Government this year - is clear evidence of the spirit of daring to think, daring to act, and persistently pursuing the path of high-tech agriculture of today's generation of young people.