Billionaire clam

(Baonghean) -That place near the estuary used to be a wild alluvial land, overgrown with grass and only had mangroves and parrots, but there was one person who turned that wilderness into a "gold mine", he became a billionaire from raising sea clams and supplying clam seeds, creating jobs for many people in the "foot of the waves" area. That was Mr. Thai Ba Khang in Son Hai - Quynh Luu.

Commercial clam farm.

We went to the "clam barn" of Son Hai - Quynh Tho - Quynh Luu in the first days of the year. The cold rain cut into the skin but Mr. Thai Ba Khang still went out to the watchtower to take care of the sea clams. Under the magical silver waves was a "gold mine" worth tens of billions of dong. Khang recalled: After more than ten years of struggling with the sea clam farming business, there were times when I thought I was empty-handed, but with the will to escape poverty, I was determined to bring the clam farming business back to the Quynh Luu sea area.

Thai Ba Khang was born in 1969, his family was poor, after 8th grade he had to drop out of school to follow the profession of catching crabs, raking clams every time the tide was low, then followed his father to sea to catch seafood. After nearly 20 years of working in the sea, Khang suddenly had an idea: In the entire alluvial plain of Son Hai, Quynh Tho, people have been working hard to rake clams but still do not have enough to eat, while the clam market is very strong. He can renovate the alluvial plain to raise clams to get rich right on his homeland. Khang discussed this idea with his wife and relatives, but everyone dissuaded him, fearing that borrowing money to buy clam seeds and "throwing" them into the sea would not work. But with determination, Khang was determined to follow the profession of raising clams. After asking for permission from Son Hai commune, in 2001 he started to renovate the barren coastal alluvial plain. After more than a year of struggling with the sun and wind, Khang transformed the alluvial plain into a flat clam farming area.

In 2002, having saved and borrowed nearly 200 million VND, Khang packed his bags and went to Ben Tre to buy 12 tons of clam seeds to release. He was not yet happy when he brought the clam seeds back, and was about to release them into the tidal flats when he saw that nearly 80% of the clam seeds had died. The reason was that the hot weather could not "insulate" the temperature. Many people thought Khang was discouraged, but unexpectedly, he decided to sell his land and house for 180 million VND to continue "gambling" with clam seeds. Khang also "took" the money to Ben Tre to buy clam seeds. This time, Khang used the funds to hire "experts" to accompany him to bring the clam seeds back. Because they were protected in "insulation" equipment to ensure the temperature regulations, the survival rate of the clams was over 90%. Only after releasing them into the tidal flats did Khang feel relieved.

The initial farming area was about 3 hectares, and the first harvest was successful, many people admired Khang. Seeing that clam farming was suitable for the climate conditions here, Khang continued to invest in expanding the area to 6 hectares of tidal flats. He went to Giao Thuy - Nam Dinh to get clam seeds, which saved on travel costs and the shorter route resulted in a higher survival rate. He was able to buy clams continuously, and his profits reached 3 - 4 billion VND a year. There were years when clam prices dropped, only 30% of the volume could be sold, the rest was still waiting in the bottom of the beach. But according to Khang, business has ups and downs, so you have to accept and wait for the right time. The potential for clam farming is huge, while many alluvial areas are still wild. Khang has rented additional land areas from the commune and people in Quynh Tho to increase the area for commercial clam farming to over 30 hectares (the largest clam farming area in Nghe An), creating jobs for 20 permanent workers and over 100 seasonal workers in the locality.

Mr. Thai Ba Khang checks clam seeds.

Mr. Khang took me to the tidal flat and personally picked up the clams to look at them with excitement: The clam market is mainly consumed in China, they really like it because our clams are even, have a beautiful white color, and are of guaranteed quality. Due to proper care according to technical processes, the clam flats have developed stably, achieving an average yield of 30 tons/ha. The price of commercial clams was 24,000 VND/kg one year, but now it has dropped to only 13,000 VND/kg, with that price still making a profit. In 2013 alone, Khang's family's revenue from clams was over 12 billion VND. It takes 15-16 months to harvest clams, which takes a long time, so Khang applies year-round seeding to have intermittent harvests. Mr. Khang added: Clam farming is also very elaborate, we have to constantly learn techniques and gain experience. To raise sea clams sustainably, we must first choose the farming ground. Clam farming areas are usually tidal flats, where there is a certain source of fresh water flowing in. The bottom is muddy sand, salinity from 15-25‰, the drying time on the beach is no more than 4-5 hours/day.

It is necessary to especially improve the hygiene of the breeding ground. When the tide is low, it is necessary to plow the surface of the ground about 5-10 cm deep, level the ground so that the clam seeds can easily go down, avoiding being swept away by the tide. Create beds in the same direction as the tide flow when rising and falling. Each bed is 1.5 m wide, between the two beds there is a path to avoid stepping on the ground after releasing the seeds. Clam farming areas with the beach drying time of more than 5 hours/day need to have measures to retain water, creating humidity for the breeding ground. Khang surrounds the ground with nets, using nets with mesh size 2a = 1 cm, 80 cm high. Use bamboo and wooden poles to spread the net. When selecting and releasing the seeds, the clam seeds must be of good quality, small, round, pink - white. Depending on the size of the seed, however, the minimum size is from 0.5-1 cm/piece. Clam farming does not need to be fed, because the food of the clams is the phytoplankton in the water. However, because of its sensitivity to sudden changes in temperature and polluted water sources, it is easy for clams to die en masse. When facing unfavorable conditions, clams can rise to the bottom and move elsewhere. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor and take timely measures. Every day when the tide recedes, it is necessary to pick up trash and dead clams and clean the breeding grounds to avoid polluting the grounds.

Clam farming always faces the situation of lack of seeds, there are years when the land lacks seeds and has to be left fallow, so to proactively source seeds, since 2005, Mr. Khang has boldly raised clam seeds on 1 hectare, mainly using Chinese and Nam Dinh clam seeds. To be completely proactive in clam seeds and supply to the market, since 2009, Mr. Khang has conducted research and organized experimental production of reproductive clam seeds, but has failed more than succeeded. It took "sweat and tears" until 2013 that Mr. Khang and aquaculture experts successfully produced reproductive clam seeds from technology transfer from Taiwan. Up to now, he has built a professional clam farming facility from seed production, incubation, exploitation, and product consumption. Leading us to the seed production area of ​​over 3 hectares, the ponds and tanks are all concreted and equipped with modern machinery such as water filtration systems, clam spawning tanks... with a total investment of over 7 billion VND, in 2013 alone, nearly 1 billion clam seeds were produced, enough for themselves and supplying seeds to many facilities in the area. It is known that Mr. Khang's facility is the first place to produce clam seeds from the Central provinces. Not satisfied with the success, Mr. Khang also has the idea of ​​collecting and expanding native clam varieties in Nghe An province because this is a clam variety with the advantage of being healthy, adapting to the environment of the local sea, the product has many unique flavors and brand value.

Van Truong