A former fisherman earns 12 billion dong a year: three-stage shrimp farming on the Thanh Hoa coast

On the coast of Thanh Hoa province in north-central Vietnam, a former fisherman who switched from traditional pond farming to advanced closed-recirculating whiteleg shrimp farming was reported as a site earning annual revenue of roughly 12 billion dong (about 70 million yen, converted at 10,000 dong ≈ about 59 yen) (reported by Nong nghiep va Moi truong on July 1, 2026). The farm of Le Van Phuong in the Hoang Chau area ships 50–70 tonnes a year from 5 hectares and 38 ponds, with net profit reaching about 5 billion dong (about 30 million yen). For importers sourcing shrimp to Japan, this single farmer's equipment investment and management method become a life-sized yardstick for gauging 'how far the upgrading of Vietnamese whiteleg shrimp has advanced.'

How a former fisherman reached 5 ha and 38 ponds

Mr. Phuong took the plunge into upgrading in 2018, starting from a test section of about 1 hectare. Erratic weather, increasing disease and the depletion of wild seed stock had compounded, and yields under conventional extensive farming had fallen. After confirming results in this test section, he expanded the scale, and by around 2021 had invested a total of about 10 billion dong (about 60 million yen) to build the current 5-hectare, 38-pond system. It has also become a local receptacle employing about 20 nearby residents. A fisherman who used to go out to sea chasing fish has changed roles into the operator of land-based managed farming.

The substance of 'three-stage' closed recirculation

What the reporting places at the core is a three-stage rearing process carried out inside net houses (rain-sheltered, roofed ponds). It is a method of starting juvenile shrimp in small nursery ponds and transferring them, as they grow, to intermediate ponds and then main grow-out ponds. The ponds are lined with waterproof sheeting, with a settling pond to collect sludge and a water-treatment system set up separately. Water is circulated with intake and discharge closed, and oxygen is sent in by added paddlewheels. Water temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen and water quality are monitored continuously, and the design is said to suppress disease with bio-materials such as live bacteria rather than antibiotics.

The aim of separating stages is to optimize stocking density and water quality at each step to maintain survival rates, shorten the farming period per cycle, and run three cycles a year. Unlike extensive farming that flows seawater through, cutting off from external water systems reduces the introduction of pathogens. the case of a producer in Quang Ninh province who achieved year-round shrimp farming Like it, it is an idea that moves closer to production independent of season and weather.

'One farmer's upgrading' in figures

Organizing Mr. Phuong's farm in figures brings the relationship between investment and recovery into view. Net profit of 5 billion dong against annual revenue of 12 billion dong works out to roughly 40% of sales remaining as profit. The equipment investment of about 10 billion dong is, simplified, at a level recoverable in about two years of annual net profit. Of course, seed stock, feed, electricity and labor costs ride on top, so actual payback drags out longer than this, but compared with the period when yields could not be predicted under extensive farming, one can sense a move to a state where the business can be planned.

Why Thanh Hoa is becoming the "aquaculture frontier of the north"

Mr. Phuong is no exception. In Thanh Hoa province a steady stream of producers have adopted upgraded farming to become "hundred-million-dong farmers," and Mr. Phuong is presented as a leading example. When people think of Vietnam's shrimp regions, Ca Mau and Bac Lieu in the Mekong Delta are the standard, but along the north-central coast too an intensive model combining roofed ponds with closed recirculation is taking root. If production spreads north rather than concentrating in the south, it means more diversified sourcing options from an importer's point of view. Sending frozen processed products to Japan the moves to revive Ca Mau's black tiger shrimp lineage Read together with this, it becomes clear that Vietnam's shrimp supply is gaining depth in both species and production regions.

Three takeaways Japanese importers should read into this

First, management that does not rely on antibiotics is spreading. The Japanese market has strict residue standards, and a farming process that advertises no use of antibacterial agents works to lower inspection risk at the processing and export stages. A design that controls disease with biological inputs fits well with the traceability that the sourcing side demands.

Second, it is moving closer to year-round supply with three cycles a year. Closed recirculation and roofed ponds thin out the seasonal off-periods and make size and shipping timing easier to read. Processed whiteleg shrimp and sushi-topping grades tend to command high unit prices for Japan and Korea, and the more stable the supply, the easier it is to arrange contract farming and annual volume commitments.

Third is how to view the fact that these five hectares are no more than a single "dot." One farmer's success is also proof of reproducibility, but bundling it into a scale that rides Japan's distribution channels requires a mechanism that gathers farmers managed under the same process across an area. It is practical to treat the contract unit not as an individual farm but as a production-region group linked by the same method. The winning approach for sourcing is to look for partners to bundle together, rather than letting the region's upgrading end with "a single hundred-million-dong farmer."

Sources

Nong nghiep va Moi truong: Applying advanced technology to lift coastal shrimp farming

24h.com.vn: A Thanh Hoa farmer earns 500 million dong a year in net profit from high-tech shrimp farming