As a saline island district located downstream of the Tien River, Tan Phu Dong's natural conditions are very harsh, each year it has to endure 6 to 9 months of salinity, making farming and livestock farming difficult. In order to turn challenges into development opportunities based on promoting the potential of land and labor to adapt to climate change, the locality encourages farmers to switch from unstable single-crop rice cultivation to aquaculture for export, mainly whiteleg shrimp, black tiger shrimp, etc.
 Mr. Le Thanh Tang takes care of his family's shrimp pond. |
Pioneering, reaping many successes in business, building a solid foundation, becoming famous as a billionaire shrimp farmer in the saline land of Tan Phu Dong, there is farmer Le Thanh Tang residing in Kenh Nhiem hamlet, Phu Thanh commune. Responding to the State's policy on developing aquaculture for export on inefficient rice land to adapt to climate change, in 2006, Mr. Tang boldly converted 1 hectare of low-yield rice land to shrimp farming.
According to Mr. Le Thanh Tang, whiteleg shrimp is suitable for local brackish and saltwater aquaculture models, and can be raised in extensive, intensive, and shrimp + rice farming models. He personally chose the intensive farming model because it gives high productivity, output, and economic efficiency compared to traditional farming and livestock farming on previously saline islet land.
However, Mr. Tang assessed that if they want to be successful, whiteleg shrimp farmers must first understand and master the technical farming process, paying attention to the pond digging stage and pond treatment carefully following the instructions of technical staff, choosing good quality shrimp seeds, strictly quarantined from reputable seed suppliers for many years. In addition, the shrimp stocking density must be moderate, not too dense to help them grow quickly, with little loss, and care and feeding must be done according to the instructed techniques and processes. Special attention must be paid to proactively preventing and controlling diseases for farmed shrimp throughout the shrimp season.
At the same time, during the shrimp farming process, if there is an incident, there must be community awareness, do not discharge contaminated farming waste into the surrounding environment without being treated according to regulations of the competent authorities to avoid spreading the impact on the farming area. In addition, absolutely do not use chemicals banned from aquaculture to ensure the quality of commercial shrimp when harvested and brought to market.
According to Mr. Le Thanh Tang, there are two shrimp farming seasons each year, each lasting about 4 months; the first season is usually stocked around January and harvested in April; the second season is stocked around May and harvested around September. Shrimp farming under the intensive model achieves an average yield of 5 to 6 tons/ha/season.
While raising, he has accumulated successful experiences and expanded production. Up to now, after nearly 20 years of working with whiteleg shrimp, he has a property of about 3 hectares of shrimp farming on Tan Phu Dong island district. On average, each year, he harvests from 27 tons to 30 tons of commercial shrimp. After deducting expenses, he still earns a net profit of over 1 billion VND.
With the profits from intensive shrimp farming, Mr. Le Thanh Tang has invested in 5 more birdhouses, opened more businesses selling animal feed and aquatic veterinary medicine according to a comprehensive business model that has brought high efficiency. Mr. Tang shared that it is estimated that each year, from the above comprehensive business model, his family earns a net profit of over 2 billion VND.
Mr. Tang also creates regular jobs for dozens of workers on the island with an income of 5 - 6 million VND/person/month. Thereby, contributing to creating stable income for workers, reducing rural poverty in difficult areas, often affected by natural disasters such as drought and salinity in Tien Giang province.
Not only is he famous as a typical local farmer and businessman who has overcome difficulties to build a sustainable career, Mr. Le Thanh Tang is also admired by the islanders for his heart for the community, actively supporting and helping poor households in the spirit of "joining hands for the poor, leaving no one behind". Every year, Mr. Tang contributes over 10 million VND to social charity work, taking care of and helping poor households in Tan Phu Dong district. At the same time, he also regularly sponsors 30 poor households in the locality at the rate of 300,000 VND/household/month. His meaningful and deeply humane work is highly welcomed by public opinion, praised and widely replicated by the locality.
Mr. Bui Thai Son, Secretary of the District Party Committee and Chairman of the People's Committee of Tan Phu Dong district, highly appreciated the business model and the wholehearted spirit of Mr. Le Thanh Tang for his community. Mr. Bui Thai Son said that Mr. Le Thanh Tang's intensive shrimp farming model to cope with climate change is being replicated locally, making Tan Phu Dong district one of the key brackish water shrimp farming areas of Tien Giang province with a total area of nearly 7,200 hectares, achieving an annual commercial shrimp output of over 37,000 tons.
According to Mr. Bui Thai Son, every year, farmer Le Thanh Tang is honored as a typical good farmer and businessman of Tien Giang province. In 2018, Mr. Le Thanh Tang was also honored to receive a Certificate of Merit from the Prime Minister for his outstanding achievements in the emulation movement of good farmers and businessmen. These are worthy rewards to honor farmers who dare to think, dare to do, and successfully build a career on the difficult saline land in the direction of adapting to drought and salinity, mitigating natural disasters and devoting themselves to the poor and lonely in the locality.
Minh Tri
Source: https://tiengiang.gov.vn/chi-tiet-tin/?/ong-le-thanh-tang-ty-phu-nuoi-tom-mien-at-man-tien-giang/56892622
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