When it comes to approaching some certain breeds and new techniques in aquatic farming, Mr. Pham Van Nhieu is one of the most iconic legends of Hai Phong city in particular and Vietnam in general. He pioneered in bringing the Bao Loc Tilapia into Vietnam. He’s also known for white pompano fish, carp fish, crabs and Malaysian shrimps,… effective farming models that help localities with developing the economy
Starting from the scratch with farming fingerlings
Mr.Pham Van Nhieu’s farm is located in the Southern of Hai Phong city, Xu Dong Ong Cam (Tien Minh commune, Tien Lang district). His farm property includes a 30-hectare system of ponds and lakes for aquaculture, which has become a bright spot in the movement of farmers emulating good production and business here.
Mr. Pham Van Nhieu with over40 years on experience in aquaculture
His family has been breeding carp since 1979, that’s when he learned about fish farming and grew a bond with it through time.
According to him, at first, carp farming was solely for the purpose of getting by and keeping food on the table, never had he thought that it’d bring him a fortune. That’s why he tried to pursue other businesses besides fish farming.
After quite a while, with several changes in life, Mr.Nhieu has quickly realized his passion for the fingerlings and the values that they bring him. Since then, he put 100% of his mind into his fish farming career, determined to eat and sleep with his aquatic friends.
Through the shipment rides and the rising number of customers within his town, Mr.Nhieu’s fingerlings were becoming more well-known among the people from nearby towns. However, that wasn’t his finish line, he quickly acknowledged the customer demands. Therefore, after the 90s, Mr.Nhieu and his elder sister, who’s also an aquatic engineer, studied carp breeding methods and started selling their larvae to other provinces.
In 1995, when his fish fries and larvae had earned a certain spot in the local market, Mr.Nhieu continued to invest even more to thrive by switching from an old bicycle to a motorbike and delivered the fish himself to other provinces, such as: Quang Ninh, Thai Binh, Nam Dinh, Thanh Hoa. His fingerlings received a lot of excellent feedback and brought him a good reputation in every single place that this man has ever stepped foot on.
It’s not all about the money
Thanks to his non-stop research, development and constant changes for the better, Mr. Pham Van Nhieu has marked his success in aquatic breeding widely. With his ability of self-learning and research from other businessmen and neighboring countries, he managed to put use into that knowledge to help develop the economy of his hometown.
After mastering his fish fries and fingerlings, Mr.Nhieu decided to build a system of farming Malaysian shrimps and white pompano fish. From previous experience, this legendary farmer of Tien Lang continued to take this farming model to the next level, bringing high economic efficiency.
Mr. Pham Van Nhieu shared that: “In 1996, I heard that China had a great source of pompano fish and asked Mr. Can – former Director of Mong Cai Department of Resource Protection- to do me a favor: taking me over there to import those pompano fish from Mr. Han Xi Hiep. Back then, demand was pretty low so I only had 5000- 10000 0f them in-stock. Through time, I noticed that farming pompano fish has been trending among fisheries due to the effectiveness, therefore I switched to farming and selling them.”
Providing white pompano fish to Northern provinces on one hand, on the other hand, Mr. Nhieu also dipped his toe into the Southern market, such as Ben Tre, Dong Thap, Vinh Long,…Being able to see the growth potential, he expanded his farming scale to both regions.
Continuing the success of farming white pompano fish, Mr.Pham Van Nhieu kept spreading his reputation further day by day with the Malaysian shrimps. He brought this farming model to 9 provinces in the Mekong Delta and has achieved high efficiency. One of the most brilliant pieces of evidence was from between 2002-2007 when he respectively built shrimp farms in Ben Tre, Dong Thap and Can Tho. The local people gave him a friendly nickname: ” Nhieu – the shrimps master”.
The whole scale of the aquaculture pond ranging up to 30 hectares
Mr. Nhieu paid attention to the smallest details when it comes to the quality of the fingerlings and ways to keep them growing steadily, the key point is to make sure that the local products are better than the imported ones. “Actually, most of the fish carry some sorts of diseases due to the weather. When you feed them during hot days, their digestion system will most likely get affected; or during the change of seasons, yeast infection usually happens. In conclusion, it’s better to be safe than sorry, you have to keep an eye on the quality of the water to have good fish.” – He shared with eagerness.
It’s not always rainbow and sunshine
“Smooth seas don’t make skillful sailors”, like many others, Mr.Nhieu has had the taste of failure multiple times. It adds up to the fact that he is the pioneer of bringing foreign fish to Vietnam, challenges always have and always will be in his way.
At the beginning of his career, shipping from abroad was extremely difficult. “ I had to deliver pompano fish by myself across the border and stacked them on my motorbike to bring them home. It’s around 350 kilometers, so that’d be roughly 700 kilometers to travel both ways. And if I include the road to China, that’s 800 kilometers in a day, it does take strength, experience and bravery to get through this.” – Mr. Nhieu said.
In particular, the process of finding standard breeds also takes a lot of effort, time and requires a lot of specialized techniques. Mr. Nhieu confided: “It was difficult to bring back the fish fries and fingerlings to the country, but whether you can find what you need or not, it depends a lot on the ability of each person.”
When importing the pompano fish from a foreign country, although there was a language barrier, however, with years of experience in aquaculture and his passion for the fish, Mr. Nhieu has accomplished the impossible. Around that time, many businessmen seemed to easily mistaken between pompano fish and carp, but not Mr. Nhieu, he’s actually the first one who was able to tell the differences. Henced why they’ve called him “The pompano king” since then.
Mr.Nhieu demonstrating the technique of injection for fish spawning
Due to the geographical distance and environmental differences, Mr. Nhieu has experienced losing everything that he’s been working on, such as 20 cm deep piles of winterkill because the fish couldn’t stand cold weather. Not to mention those days when he had to eat, sleep and even breathe with the shrimps to be able to understand and take better care of them. With the mindset of “No pain, no gain”, Mr.Nhieu observed them closely to domesticate and improve the quality of the fingerlings.
Rising above his failed attempts, Mr.Nhieu shared that: “During the shipment, yeast infection is quite common so I must bring medicine to soak them in before shipping. A lot of people went through the fish-kill situation but I managed to deliver 90% of them fresh and alive. It’s crucial to know what are their needs, the right amount of oxygen, the condition of the fish before shipping,…”
Breaking away from the old path and moving on with his passion for fish farming
Putting 100% of his mind into each little creature that he’s been working on for years, Mr.Pham Van Nhieu has had quite some impressive achievements. With his bravery and nearly 30 years of experience in fish farming, he is now known as “the aquatic artisan”, who not only managed to take care of his family but also constantly searches for new things and new methods to improve the fish breeds and their quality. Mr. Nhieu is also willing to share some tips and help people in the localities with his experience in aquaculture, striving to escape poverty for good.
During 2017 – 2018, in addition to developing old farming models, Mr. Nhieu continued his research on Bao Loc Tilapia. Realizing the potential for development and economic value from this breed, after a year, at the end of 2019 and early 2020 to be specific, Mr. Nhieu has cooperated with Bao Minh Aquatic products Limited Company to exclusively distribute the Bao Loc Tilapia for the domestic market.
According to Mr. Nhieu, Bao Loc Tilapia is the type of fish that he is very passionate about. The association with Bao Minh to import this fish breed to the Vietnamese market has helped him fulfill his dream – to bring more and more quality fish to people: “Bao Loc Tilapia is the fish breed supplied by Bao Loc Farm – the largest and most well-known farm in China. This Tilapia variety when imported to Vietnam has the highest price and the quality is also extremely good. All of them have the Certificate of Aquatic quarantine of the Customs Branch and the Veterinary Department. Besides, Bao Loc Tilapia also has the advantage of being very fragrant and firm in their meat, yet consuming less food, so it has great potential for development.
Bao Loc Tilapia – the fish breed that was registered by Mr. Nhieu for Bao Minh Aquatic products Limited Company to distribute exclusively
Mr.Nhieu has mentioned: “This career has really been in my blood, I could probably retire at this age already, but I still want to work until I couldn’t anymore. As long as my hands are still working, my legs are capable of walking,..I’d continue to devote myself to work.”
In recent years, Mr.Nhieu still pursues his aquatic passion, expanding his farming model into a “river within a pond”, which consists of carp fish, shrimps, ragworms. Thanks to this new method that he adapted from the Israelian, within 5 months of trial and 2 first “rivers”, he managed to harvest over 50 tons of fish, with interest rates from 600-700 million VND/ year.
Mr. Nhieu’s “river within a pond” farming model
From this aquatic farming model, Mr.Nhieu not only brings in giant revenues but also is able to provide frequent labor jobs to 10 local people with the income that ranges from 6-10 million VND/ month.
Mr. Nhieu also shared about the strategic orientation of development in the future, he claimed that he – himself along with Bao Minh Aquatic products Limited Company is currently working on ways to apply the latest science and technology to fish farming so he can create practical values from his own passion.
Bringing the burning passion from his youthful 20s along with the rich experience accumulated during his career, the passionate fire of “aquatic artisan” Pham Van Nhieu combined with the technological advances from Bao Minh Aquatic products Limited Company will surely create a value chain to improve the quality of their products and meet safety standards.
