'Ethical shrimp' - standards from pond to table

“Digitalizing” shrimp farming

In November 2020, Dr. Nguyen Thanh My (Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rynan Technologies Vietnam) established Salicornia Ngon Bien JSC. Standing on a 7.5 ha shrimp farming area that was recently invested by Salicornia to acquire a new technology application pond system in Duyen Hai district, Tra Vinh province, Dr. My expressed his confidence when saying that the invention of new devices combined with digitization would create breakthroughs in the shrimp farming field.

Dr. My is highly regarded thanks to his many achievements in the field of scientific research and useful inventions. He is also one of the successful economic investors in his hometown of Tra Vinh. When entering the seafood field, Mr. My humbled himself, admitting that he was just “an outsider” in the shrimp farming story. “I search for knowledge, study, and conduct research, all just to contribute some new technological innovations to help shrimp farmers. I want to contribute and travel along with the standard journey of ‘ethical shrimp standards – from pond to table”.

Studying Vietnam’s shrimp industry since the beginning of 2020, Dr. My identified four major problems. Firstly, the output is low, reaching 1 – 2 tons of shrimps/ha/year, while in other countries such as India, the output can reach 6 – 7 tons/ha. Secondly, due to bacteria and parasites, shrimp farmers use a lot of antibiotics, leading to the existence of antibiotic-resistant super bacteria. The situation is added with another difficulty when more than 75% of the shrimp industry’s value chain depends on traders.

The last problem lies in the high production costs. Most of the shrimp feed producers are foreign companies. Vietnam’s shrimp farming enterprises have to import almost 100% of input materials, thus shrimp feed accounts for 55 - 60% of production costs.

With a new mindset comes a new way of doing things, Dr. My said, “There are three steps in digitalization, including data digitization, process digitization (process automation) and digital transformation. The purpose of these steps is to collect a big amount of data that helps create new value.”

The most difficult thing in shrimp farming is how to automatically collect data. Automation based on artificial intelligence is too expensive for farmers today. Therefore, Dr. My offered 3 levels of solutions: manual, semi-automatic and automatic. For example, in Salicornia’s shrimp farming area, just taking a picture of a shrimp on the smartphone and the system would be able to analyze its weight today or whether it is growing properly.

Cultivating shrimps by utilizing smartphone and automatic shrimp feeder

Having a full understanding of farmers’ hardship specifically in terms of capital, Salicornia is applying models that help to reduce input costs from seeds, technical equipment, feed, and product costs.

Salicornia’s model has the ultimate goal of securing uniform model application procedures and output quality. Shrimps will be cultivated in safe procedures and guaranteed in terms of origin, meeting the export standards of meticulous markets such as Japan and Europe.

Rynan Mekong is an application of Salicornia in the App Store. Farmers can install it on their smartphone to remotely control and update shrimp situation, monitor water, which makes shrimp farming more convenient.

The model also applies the smart shrimp feeder model AIF 100 (priced at VND 30 million/machine) which has three operating modes, including manual mode, automatic mode and AI algorithm combination mode. Especially, the third mode will coordinate with monitoring stations and equipment to measure environmental indicators and the parameters of shrimp to conclude how much food the shrimps need in a day. This type of machine helps to save feed up to 20%.

Salicornia’s shrimp farming model is being implemented in Tra Vinh, Ben Tre, Soc Trang, and Bac Lieu on the basis of the association between cooperatives. Farming technology and equipment are actively produced domestically by Salicornia (available right in Tra Vinh) so the price is relatively cheap, available for cooperative-scale shrimp farming. The company can create production linkage and call for the companionship of banks to lease or sell equipment to shrimp farmers while accepting deferred payments.

Harvesting shrimp daily

Currently, Salicornia’s shrimp pond areas are oriented toward the in-house shrimp farming model using solar panels. Shrimp can be harvested every day instead of the normal 100-day period. This approach solves the quantity pressure, selling directly to consumers.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the question of convenience is consumers’ top concern. With the "ethical shrimp" packaging machines (prices from 200 to 500 million VND/machine), shrimp farmers can apply improved gas packaging technology, allowing shrimp to be preserved for up to 3 months. "Consumers who buy our processed shrimp products just need to put them in the microwave for 3 minutes and then use them right away. This convenience is one of the selling points that help shrimp farmers increase profits," said Dr. My.