Mr. Le Van Thuong successfully started a business with a fish breeding model.

According to the introduction of the Farmers' Association of Cam Giang district about a model of good farmers in production and business in the district, but after many contacts, we finally met Mr. Le Van Thuong, born in 1984, owner of Hong Thuong fish breeding facility in Phu An village, Cao An commune. He said that for the past few days, he had to pack and ship goods to customers every day, the day before he sent them to Hanoi, yesterday he sent fish fry to customers in Ho Chi Minh City.

Coming from a farming family, Mr. Thuong became familiar with fish when his parents contracted several ponds in the village's conversion area to raise fish. Previously, in addition to fish for food, his family raised some traditional fish species such as grass carp, bighead carp, and silver carp. In 2012, after getting married, he and his wife moved out and contracted nearly 2 acres of fish ponds and pig farms.

Later, he stopped raising pigs to focus on raising fish. In 2017, he invested in buying the pond next door and expanded the scale. To suit the fish breeding model, Mr. Thuong re-planned it into small ponds.

Up to now, his fish breeding model has 2 ponds for raising fish such as tilapia, carp, catfish, and red tilapia. The fish are imported with a weight of about 6,000 - 7,000 fish/kg, and are sold after about 15 - 20 days.

Mr. Thuong shared that raising fish fry is much more difficult than raising meat fish because the fish are small, have weak resistance, and are very sensitive to water sources. Fish can easily die from heat shock when the weather changes, or the water source does not meet standards. Therefore, to keep the fish healthy and develop stably, he does not use water from outside. All the water used for raising fish is well water. Before pumping water into the pond, the well water is pumped into a specialized pond for water treatment. Depending on weather conditions, the water level in the pond is also adjusted accordingly.

To be where he is today, the couple also encountered many difficulties and losses. In 2018, the couple tried to build a roof and a heating system on a pole of pond to stabilize the water temperature in the pond, but after a while, they found it ineffective and had to destroy it. One time, he had just released 500,000 catfish, but the next day the weather changed suddenly, causing the fish to go into heat shock and die, causing a loss of 200 million VND. Another time, he imported 200,000 tilapia for breeding and after more than 10 days, he discovered that the fish had deformities exceeding 1% of the regulations. To keep their reputation with customers, the couple had to salvage all of the fish and release them into the big river, causing a loss of 200 million VND.

“When the fish are first imported, they are very small, so it is impossible to detect whether they are deformed or not. Only when they are raised to be larger and are carefully examined by experienced people will we know. When fish with deformities are sold, the price will be very low, so we cannot harm the interests of customers for our own profit,” Mr. Thuong shared.

Despite the difficulties, with the determination not to back down, to work and learn, to gain experience, his facility has now developed steadily. From mainly exporting fish fry to farms in the province, his fish hatchery facility is now known to customers in many places. Currently, the facility sells fish fry to many agents and large fish farms in localities such as: Hanoi, Tuyen Quang, Vinh Phuc, Da Nang, Dak Lak, Dong Thap, Can Tho, Ho Chi Minh City...

After deducting expenses, his business earns a profit of over 900 million VND per year, creating jobs for 4 workers with a salary of 6 - 8 million VND/person/month.

His facility has been granted a certificate of eligibility for fish seed production and breeding by the Department of Fisheries, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Hai Duong. Every year, it is inspected to meet standards and quality standards.

Mr. Hoang Van Thong, Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Cao An Commune, said that this is a production and business model that brings high economic efficiency, one of the top in the commune. Along with production and business, Mr. Thuong also actively supports and shares knowledge and techniques in aquaculture with households in the commune, contributing to promoting the movement of farmers competing in production and good business in the locality to develop more and more.

Mr. Thuong has been recognized for many years as a good production and business household at the provincial level and is one of three individuals from Cam Giang district to be proposed by the Hai Duong Provincial Farmers' Association to receive a certificate of merit for his outstanding achievements in the 3-year emulation movement of farmers in production and good business (2022-2024).