Quang Nam is one of the localities which has taken the lead in this model and now the province has a shrimp-farming area of 300ha, mainly concentrated in Nui Thanh and Thang Binh Districts.

The model of raising shrimp, mainly the giant tiger prawn, on coastal sand in Quang Nam Province started in 2005. In 2007, some households in the province learned the white leg shrimp raising technique from the areas that have a successful model and started to apply it in a large area in the province.

According to Nguyen Dinh Son, Head of Nui Thanh District’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the district has the largest area of raising shrimp on sand in the province. The communes which have the models of high efficiency include Tam Hoa, Tam Tien and Tam Hai.
 

Son also said that because raising the white leg shrimp was suitable to the local soil, the district authorities devised a plan and gave directions for zoning the raising areas. The district cadres and some officials of the Aquaculture Department of Quang Nam Province went to these areas to instruct the people on how to build the ponds to ensure the sanitation of the environment.

We followed Le Van Phu, an aquaculture and veterinary cadre in Tam Hoa Commune, to visit some households which have a raising model of high efficiency in Hoa An Village. Phu said that in the past, Hoa An was the poorest village in the commune. However, since the raising of the whiteleg shrimp on sand began, the village has changed for the better.

At present, Hoa An Commune has over 800,000m² of ponds for shrimp-raising. The raising the shrimp on sand in Tam Hoa started in 2006 with several pilot models implemented by some pioneering families, such as the families of Huynh Van Quyen and Do Van Luu. Phu said: “At first, only some families were involved. So far, the number of households involved is 90% in Hoa An Village and over 50% in Hoa Binh Village.”

Under Phu’s recommendation we went to Pham Ngoc Thao’s family, one of the households that has a shrimp-raising model of high efficiency in Hoa An Village.

This is the 6^th year his family shifted to raising shrimp. In the first years his family had 1-2 ponds for raising shrimp. Now the raising area has increased to 1.4ha and the number of ponds has increased to seven. On average, his family has three shrimp crops a year and each crop lasts 90 days. After each harvest, Thao asks the workers to clean the water of the ponds. 
 

According to Thao, Tam Hoa area has very special soil that no other areas have. The Truong Giang River runs near the village which is very convenient for households to take in and discharge the water after each harvest. This is a very important condition to keep the water and environment for the shrimp clean.

The Aquaculture Department of Quang Nam Province is also carrying out a survey, giving advices and making a plan for the construction of clean ponds for the households in the commune to raise shrimp. Under this plan, each household will have one private pond for the treatment of the water before it is discharged into the environment.

Standing on the last ferry that left Hoa An Village, we clearly saw the changes in this area. A few years ago this area was called an island of sand by the local people. Now, due to the bold investment of the households, this area has become an “island of shrimp”. More importantly, the raising of shrimp on sand has helped the residents in the poor Tam Hoa Commune in particular and in Quang Nam in general get rich.