Russian Sturgeon Sparkling Sunny Valley

Mr. Gennady Kuznetsov and Sunny Valley sturgeon products

From the high Bidoup mountain, hundreds of streams flow downstream and always give preference to Da Mrang, a stream winding through ancient cliffs along sub-area 115 of the Da Nhim protective headwater forest. The long stream reflects the mainly coniferous forest that has been friendly to the K'Ho residents for hundreds of years. Nature bestows native aquatic resources and the sweet scent of the forest every passing season. But no one thought that a new species of fish would appear here, originating from the land of birch, Russian sturgeon and Siberia. The plant community and the environment of light, wind, temperature, water, air... along with the creative love of humans have created the meat and caviar of Thung Lang Nang sturgeon to become a high-class product for domestic and international VIP diners. Seventeen years of formation is not a long time physically, but the psychological time is really not short because of the hardships that the owner Gennady Kuznetsov and his associates have gone through. And the geographical space has a sign of the specialty sturgeon of Da Sar commune, Lac Duong district, Lam Dong province.

The mountain sunshine embroidered brocade along the bush-covered road. We walked with Gennady Kuznetsov and interpreter Le Khac Nghi. Tall and slender, Kuznetsov embodied all the typical Russian traits: romantic, beauty-loving, intelligent, attentive to appearance, serious, a drinker... The story of a Russian politician becoming a sturgeon owner in Vietnam was shared by the 68-year-old man with a deep and bitter tone.

• SECRETARY OF PROVINCIAL YOUTH UNION IN RUSSIA

Gennady Kuznetsov was born into a working-class family in Krasnodar province but studied and worked for a long time in Magadan province. This province is five times larger than France, located in the remote Far East of Russia. He opened the map on his Smartphone to show the location of the country he is attached to. Magadan is located in northeastern Russia, opposite the Alaskan archipelago of the United States, 8 time zones away from Moscow. The place where he lives is an extremely cold climate, the local economy has three main sources: gold mining, deer hunting and fishing. Kuznetsov said that in his youth he loved fishing, loved the ice fishing seasons and loved boxing. After graduating from high school, he worked as a mechanic and studied law at university. At the age of eighteen, he became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and was assigned to be in charge of the Lenin Communist Youth Union (Komsomol) of the factory. With his enthusiasm and efforts, he was trusted to hold the position of Secretary of the Komsomol Youth Union of Magadan province at a very young age...

K'Quang (left) and colleagues clean sturgeon after collecting eggs.

(small photo is finished canned salted egg product)

In 1999, Kuznetsov and his family moved to Moscow and retired in 2007 at the age of 53. Just one year later, Kuznetsov fell in love with Vietnam and started a new career in aquaculture, from the suggestion of Vietnamese friends studying and working in Russia who understood this field. With the company name Thung Lung Nang, Kuznetsov explained: “In the north of Magadan province, there is a very special valley, my hometown people call it Thung Lung Mat (Valley of the Sun). There, even though it is a cold winter with white snow, it is still very warm, even when the temperature drops to minus 25-30 degrees, the locals can still ski and sunbathe naked. I named Thung Lung Nang for the company in this mountainous Da Sar forest to remind me of my hometown…”.

• STURGEON FARMING OWNER IN VIETNAM

With the encouragement and enthusiastic support of Dr. Le Thanh Luu - Director of the Institute of Aquaculture Research 1, Kuznetso went to Lam Dong to survey and find a place to raise fish. After a period of project development and returning home to find capital and enthusiastic support from the People's Committee of Lam Dong province, in March 2008, Gennady Kuznetsov officially decided to establish Sun Dale JV.Ltd, a joint venture company specializing in cold water fish farming and protecting 100 hectares of forest in sub-area 115.

Sparkling Sunny Valley Sturgeon

Minimizing the impact on the forest to preserve the ecosystem, while regenerating degraded vegetation, is the will and sentiment of the owner of Thung Lang Nang right from the start. The construction of infrastructure in remote areas is even more difficult when strictly following the philosophy of environmental protection. From a deserted forest, Thung Lang Nang's premises are now a small paved road, a few houses, a modest warehouse under the forest canopy, a system of dams, pipelines, settling tanks, breeding tanks, and a caviar factory (CAVIAR). Everything is completed to ensure strict standards in the field of fish farming. Thung Lang Nang has now expanded its scale to a length of 2.3 km of stream with hundreds of thousands of sturgeon, including meat fish and fish eggs. “We are very happy that only Sunny Valley has succeeded in overcoming the negative factors of climate, drought or floods. We did it because we used new technologies, constantly trying to improve water quality and fish farming conditions,” Gennady Kuznetsov shared in a deep voice. His happiness was multiplied when his company contributed to the development of the locality by investing in a stone road of more than 5 km and a low-voltage power line of 3.5 km for local people and other businesses to use together.

The owner of Thung Lung Nang said that his hometown also raises salmon and sturgeon, but because the weather is too cold, it takes three or four years from breeding to harvesting. In Lam Dong, thanks to the suitable temperature, commercial fish can be produced in just one year. Witnessing sturgeon weighing more than 40 kg, we were surprised and admired the results of the collective labor here. The company's sturgeon products are environmentally friendly, raised in ideal natural conditions, using food from the world's leading manufacturers in France and the Netherlands. Applying modern technologies from Russia and Europe, the company annually supplies the market with 120 tons of products. Kuznetsov says confidently: “We breed sturgeon of various breeds, including Russian and Siberian sturgeon, and there is also a population of rare albino sturgeon, from which golden caviar is processed. Sunny Valley produces black caviar according to strict Russian standards, as this is an original Russian product. All products are certified in accordance with international standards - HACCP.”

• NOT JUST SUNNY BUT SYMPATHY AND SENSITIVE

Contributing to creating high-end products for domestic and international diners, it is impossible not to mention the 20 K'Ho workers. In the story of the company's ups and downs, the owner Kuznetsov repeatedly praised the spirit of self-conscious labor and especially the folk knowledge of the K'Ho people about their talent for fish farming. Sturgeon farming requires very high techniques, especially raising to get eggs. Every step of the process must go through extremely complicated, strict, and precise steps from the water environment, food, breed selection, breeding of each period to the development of meat fish, egg fish and how to collect eggs, then preserve the product after harvest... Kuznetsov commented that K'Ho workers at Thung Lung Nang are very responsible workers with excellent working skills. The job requires discipline and high technical level, but they respond excellently, even their intelligence surprises foreign experts.

Sturgeon farming system using modern and environmentally friendly technology

To prove it, Kuznetsov said that at noon that day, the Russian experts suggested that the workers feed the fish, however, the K'Ho workers resolutely refused to do so after looking at the sky, the water, and the fish. They affirmed that if they fed the fish at this time, the fish would die. The experts were responsible for this decision, the workers had to feed the fish, and in the end, after the fish were fed, they suddenly died in large numbers. This failure taught Kuznetsov a valuable lesson, that in addition to formal techniques and scientific knowledge, experience, skills, and indigenous knowledge are also extremely important. Folk knowledge is the treasure of the people who have lived with the sun, wind, water, and mountains for thousands of years. More than anyone else, they understand the origins of the natural environment and the living space of the beloved forest. Kuznetsov also cited the "hearing ability" of the K'Ho workers in understanding the development stages of fish eggs. By stroking the belly of the sturgeon, they had accurate information before having to use an ultrasound machine to record the ripeness… We were lucky to witness Mr. K'Quang and his colleagues cleaning the sturgeon after collecting the eggs. Gently and skillfully. In another location, the group of Chu Ju Lia and Hua Duc Tuan (father is K'Ho mother is Kinh)… were diligently making a small bridge across the stream. Lia said: "We work here near our home, the job and income are stable, and engineer Quan has taught us so we are used to it."

In the peaceful Sunny Valley campus

Kuznetsov invited us to sit in the small hut next to where he lived, continuing to chat while having lunch. He had prepared food and drink neatly, imbued with the culture of the land of birch trees. One of the taboos of Russians is that guests do not refuse when invited to eat, and lunch is their most important meal. Even drinking alcohol, no matter how little, refusing is considered impolite, because this drink shows the respect of the guest and the level of intimacy between the host. How poetic, amidst the green pine trees, full of wind and sunshine, the host invited us to enjoy Russian specialties: caviar, butter, smoked meat, vodka with bread and clean agricultural products from Lam Dong. Caviar is one of the five famous dishes of Russia. This type of food is very expensive, serving the Russian aristocracy and receiving distinguished guests... The owner of the Sunny Valley, Gennady Kuznetsov, left us with many beautiful and friendly impressions. He possesses all the valuable qualities: an intelligent politician, a resourceful businessman, a man of Russian culture.

We left Thung Lung Nang with regret to return to Da Lat city. I suddenly remembered a good news related to the career that Gennady Kuznetsov is pursuing. That was at the end of March, Chairman of Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee Tran Hong Thai issued a Decision to establish a specialized Science and Technology Council to evaluate and accept the results of the implementation of the provincial science and technology task "Building a process for cryopreservation of Russian sturgeon sperm (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii) and Siberian sturgeon (A. haerii) in Lam Dong province". The Council includes scientists, managers at home and abroad. I think Thung Lung Nang is a trustworthy address worthy of helping Lam Dong demonstrate and reference.

Source: https://baolamdong.vn/kinh-te/202505/thung-lung-nang-lap-lanh-ca-tam-nga-f6f1b28/