Quynh Luu: Locals suffer heavy losses due to slow shrimp growth.

(Baonghean) - Despite being in the middle of the first shrimp harvest season, a gloomy atmosphere prevails in the industrial shrimp farming area of ​​Quynh Bang commune - the largest shrimp farming area in Quynh Luu and Hoang Mai districts. This only makes the suffocating heat and humidity of July even more unbearable. This year, the shrimp are not growing well, resulting in losses of 50-70 million VND per pond…

At the shrimp farm of Mr. Le Van Liem in Quynh Bang, Quynh Luu, visually, the shrimp appear very small, only slightly larger than the tip of a bamboo chopstick, about one-third the weight of shrimp of the same age in other ponds. Mr. Liem said: This is his third year raising shrimp; the breed is from Thong Thuan Co., Ltd., headquartered in Binh Thuan province, and is imported through an intermediary, the Thong Tin shrimp breeding and nursery farm owned by Mr. Hoang Xuan Tin, a local resident.

Mr. Hoang Xuan Tin's shrimp farm suffered losses due to shrimp malnutrition.

Two years ago, the shrimp grew normally, yielding quite high profits. In the same pond, after 57 days of farming, the shrimp yield reached over 6 tons, totaling 13 tons for both farming cycles (110 days) in 2013. Selling at 150,000 VND/kg, after deducting expenses, the profit was more than half. This year, however, right from the start of the farming season, in many areas of Hoang Mai such as Quynh Xuan, Mai Hung, Quynh Loc, Quynh Dy, and even in the industrial farming areas of the commune, some ponds experienced shrimp mortality after only 10-20 days of stocking. Seeing the shrimp grow day by day brought immense joy. After 35 days, the shrimp reached the required weight. However, after 40, 50, 60, and 70 days, the amount of feed provided gradually increased with the age of the shrimp, but upon inspection, they didn't grow much further.

Despite close monitoring, he didn't detect any unusual signs in the shrimp, and since they weren't sick, he was hopeful and continued feeding them. He paused, sighing. We asked why he didn't harvest them earlier when he saw they weren't growing. He sadly continued: "The worst thing for a shrimp farmer is having to harvest shrimp midway through the process, unless they suddenly die. But these shrimp were eating normally, healthy and strong, who would dare harvest them? Following the shrimp, sleeping and waking with them, for nearly 90 days, and they only reached just over 200 shrimp per kilogram. Normally, at this age, shrimp are only around 60 per kilogram. Recently, out of impatience, Mr. Liem and his wife decided to harvest one pond, but only got 2 tons, a third of the yield, and the price dropped by more than half compared to other ponds, resulting in a loss of nearly 80 million dong."

It's not just Mr. Liem's ​​family, but hundreds of shrimp farmers in this area are in the same predicament. They are caught in a dilemma: "To abandon it would be a pity, but to continue would be a burden." With the current rate of development, shrimp farmers are suffering huge losses. Mr. Ngo Tri Muu, who has been involved in shrimp farming for over 20 years, just harvested three ponds of malnourished shrimp, suffering losses of several hundred million dong. He lamented: "Shrimp are prone to disease, even dying in large numbers close to harvest. But this is the first time I've seen shrimp that aren't growing, eating normally, yet are malnourished like this."

Mr. Tran Hoat, a long-time shrimp farmer in the Quyet Thang farming area of ​​Quynh Thanh commune, affirmed: "The shrimp are raised for 90 days, without disease or defects like in our ponds, yet it takes over 300 shrimp to make 1 kg. This means there's a problem with the shrimp breed. If it were due to water quality or weather, the shrimp would have died already; they wouldn't have survived until today." The fact that the shrimp fry from Thong Thuan Company are not growing well is causing frustration among farmers like Mr. Hoat, Mr. Liem, and Mr. Muu.

The batch of shrimp fry released by Thong Thuan Company before the 10th day of the 2nd lunar month yielded high profits. Shrimp of the same age weighed only 54-60 per kilogram, selling for 150,000-180,000 VND, resulting in profits of 300-400 million VND per pond. Meanwhile, over 100 hectares of shrimp ponds released in the subsequent batch, using the same shrimp fry from Quynh Bang, Quynh Thanh, Trinh Mon farm, and Quynh Xuan ward (Hoang Mai town), all suffered from malnutrition after the 10th day of the 2nd lunar month, causing tens of billions of VND in losses for farmers.

Mr. Hoat added: "My family has invested so much effort and money in renovating the ponds and following the correct farming procedures for this season, hoping to pay off our debts. At the beginning of the season, many shrimp farmers suffered losses, but my pond's shrimp developed normally. Yet, despite all this farming, the shrimp still haven't grown. Each pond consumes 10 million dong worth of feed per day – it's like raising an 'addict' of shrimp. Now that the shrimp are like this, if the bank tightens lending, my family won't know how to recover. We hope the media can help provide information so that the seed company and relevant authorities can officially determine the reason why the shrimp aren't growing, giving us a basis to continue investing in farming."

Mr. Ngo Tri Muu added: "At the beginning of March (lunar calendar), shrimp seed suppliers such as CP, Viet Uc, and Nam Mien Trung almost had no seeds to supply the market, but Thong Thuan Co., Ltd. still had enough to supply the people of Quynh Luu. In my personal opinion, the company somehow managed to breed the shrimp or used some kind of substance to stimulate them to lay eggs, which is why the seed supply is problematic. When that substance wears off, the shrimp stop growing."

Regarding this issue, in a conversation with us, Mr. Hoang Xuan Tin, owner of a shrimp hatchery in Quynh Bang, an intermediary importing shrimp fry from Thong Thuan Company and then raising them before supplying them to farmers, said: “At that time, every company was short of fry. Quynh Luu, in particular, has been a traditional market for Thong Thuan Company for over a decade. Our farm had to assign people to wait at the company to receive the fry before importing them to sell to farmers. If there was any problem with the fry, I can assure you it was not due to the company's negligence, because Thong Thuan Company also raised shrimp using this source in Ha Tinh province and encountered a similar problem of malnourished shrimp.” Mr. Tin himself suffered losses from raising shrimp in 7 ponds this time. He said he had contacted the company, but they replied that the fry were of guaranteed quality and had undergone rigorous inspection processes.

To date, no agency has taken samples of shrimp for testing and provided an official conclusion to the farmers. This year's shrimp crop has resulted in heavy losses for shrimp farmers in Quynh Luu, putting them at risk of mounting debt due to the high investment costs.

Nguyen Van