Devastated by… shrimp (!?)

QTO - There was a time when shrimp farming on sandy beaches in Ninh Chau commune promised to open up a new direction in occupational transformation and increase income for the people. However, now, whenever shrimp farming is mentioned, many households are… afraid.

Talking about shrimp farming... makes me scared.

In the past, whenever people mentioned the shallow coastal areas, they often thought of poor fishing villages. These areas were considered "shallow seas," and the lives of the people there were often more difficult and challenging compared to other coastal villages. And, if they only relied on fishing, it would be difficult for them to achieve a prosperous and wealthy life.

Since their appearance in the coastal areas, shrimp farms have helped many households "change their lives." Many suddenly realized that their poverty wasn't due to the sea being unforgiving, but because they hadn't yet found a way to get rich.

The story of Mai Thi Hien's family in Tan Hai village who turned to shrimp farming is similar. In 2015, her family borrowed money and pooled all their capital and assets to buy land and raise shrimp. At that time, their 10 concentrated shrimp ponds (covering 3 hectares) in Tan Dinh village were invested in on a large scale and systematically, becoming a "typical" model, a dream and a source of pride for the people of this coastal area.

The 10 shrimp ponds belonging to Ms. Mai Thi Hien's family in Tan Hai village have been left empty for many years - Photo: CH

"Back then, all the money we earned came from shrimp farming. If we spent all year rowing boats out to sea, how could we ever get ahead?" Ms. Hien said.

It wasn't by chance that they made such a bold decision. Prior to this, her husband had spent many years learning shrimp farming techniques and gaining experience in the southern provinces, and renting land in neighboring areas. In 2013, they decided to return to their hometown to dig ponds and raise shrimp. Their hard work paid off; the first shrimp harvests on this sandy land brought the family a huge income that she wouldn't have dared to dream of. Some harvests yielded net profits of several hundred million dong, while others reached billions of dong.

After raising shrimp for two years, her family moved to the current aquaculture area in Tan Dinh village because their old shrimp farming area had to be cleared for the FLC Quang Binh resort complex project.

This time, in addition to the 1 hectare they received as compensation for land clearance, they decided to buy another 2 hectares to expand their shrimp farming operation. However, after three years of farming, for some unknown reason, the shrimp started acting up, developing diseases. Previously, shrimp farming yielded a fourfold profit. But since 2020, they've been investing billions of dong only to receive meager returns.

And so it went, losses piled upon losses, profits upon profits. Like people "addicted" to shrimp farming, the more losses and debt they accumulated, the more they sought to recoup their losses. They mortgaged their house and 3 hectares of land to borrow money for shrimp farming. When they could no longer continue, they gave up, abandoning the ponds and the shrimp, and returned to fishing. For nearly three years now, all 10 shrimp ponds have been abandoned, leaving them with nearly 10 billion VND in bank debt.

"While there's still water, we'll keep trying."

It's not just Mai Thi Hien's family that's burdened with debt because of shrimp farming; many shrimp farmers in the area are facing similar situations. In 2020, Mai Thi Huong and her husband in Tan Hai village rented 1 hectare of land in Tan Dinh village to build 3 shrimp ponds. Shrimp farming involves risk; you have to rely on "2-3 harvests for every 1," so a good harvest compensates for a bad one, which is normal. Shrimp farming is uncertain, but it's better than depending on fishing in the coastal waters. Having rented land for shrimp farming for nearly 10 years, they understand this all too well.

No longer able to afford shrimp farming, many families in Tan Hai village have switched to raising snakehead fish - Photo: CH

However, they never imagined the risks, troubles, and failures that followed year after year. For many years, they raised shrimp but couldn't sell them. After a period of losses, they became discouraged, not because they had lost hope, but because they owed nearly 5 billion VND to the bank and didn't know when they would be able to repay it. Unable to continue raising shrimp, last year they switched to raising snakehead fish. Being more cautious, they only raised them in one pond, as a trial. But when faced with difficulties, everything seems hard. This pond of snakehead fish is two months past its harvest time, but the fish still haven't grown.

Ms. Mai Thi Huong recounted that compared to shrimp farming, the initial investment for snakehead fish farming is less, and the profit is also lower. While it's said to be less, the amount is still significant. Just the cost of feed for the snakehead fish pond over the past nearly eight months has meant her family has mortgaged their house to the feed supplier, thinking... "as long as there's still hope, we'll keep trying."

According to Tran Van Lai, Vice Chairman of the Ninh Chau Commune People's Committee, the former Hai Ninh commune has 15 hectares of aquaculture area. Recently, many aquaculture households, especially shrimp farmers, have faced difficulties due to shrimp diseases, resulting in prolonged losses. Currently, many shrimp farmers are in debt, and large areas of ponds have been abandoned. To mitigate losses, the local government has encouraged people to switch from shrimp farming to other aquatic species such as snakehead fish, abalone, kingfish, and mullet. In the long term, the commune hopes that the competent authorities will consider policies to support, restructure debts, and reduce interest rates on loans for aquaculture farmers to have time to maintain and restore production.

Duong Cong Hop

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/kinh-te/202603/dieu-dung-vi-tom-8882c3b/