After ten years of shrimp farming, Xu Lijuan built a path to prosperity from nothing

In Binhai Village, Xiaocaoe Town, Yuyao City, there is a woman named Xu Lijuan. More than ten years ago, she started from nothing and founded a whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) farm. Through hard work, she has now become a widely known leader in getting rich. Shortly before this year's March 8th Festival, she was named one of Xiaocaoe Town's "Top Ten Entrepreneurial Women" and received a grand commendation.

Xu Lijuan, now 53 years old, once repaired clocks and also ran a grocery store. In 2004, at the age of 40, she learned that farming whiteleg shrimp was very profitable, so she invested more than 500,000 yuan, leased 204 mu of land from the local Ningbo Jiujiuhong Agricultural Development Co., Ltd., created "Old Xu Family Farm," and devoted herself to farming whiteleg shrimp.

Xu Lijuan said: "In 2004, if whiteleg shrimp farming went just a little well, you could harvest 1,000 jin per mu, and the profit was high too. Earning 5,000 yuan per mu was easy money, so I wanted to start farming whiteleg shrimp."

For many people, whiteleg shrimp are a delicacy, but for Xu Lijuan, whiteleg shrimp changed her life. Digging shrimp ponds, purchasing shrimp fry, selecting feed... For the high profits of whiteleg shrimp, Xu Lijuan worked like a tough woman, doing all kinds of jobs that men do. Although Xu Lijuan was a high school graduate in 1979, she knew nothing about whiteleg shrimp farming techniques. So she asked for advice on farming techniques everywhere, but the result was still that however many she raised, that many died. In the first year alone, she lost more than 300,000 yuan.

Once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back. In order to farm shrimp well, Xu Lijuan visited shrimp farming enterprises inside and outside the province many times and often sought advice from well-known nearby aquaculture experts. At the same time, she ate and lived by the seaside and did all the work herself. Testing water quality, observing shrimp fry for disease, turning on aeration equipment... Whenever people were already sound asleep at night, Xu Lijuan was still busy, inspecting all the shrimp ponds once every one and a half to two hours to make sure the shrimp fry were absolutely safe.

"The most critical thing in shrimp farming is water quality," Xu Lijuan said. "Now all the water we use for farming has to be tested. You must believe in science. When we farmed in the past, because we had no way to test, when the shrimp fry died, it was a whole batch at once. Now four indicators in the water, including pH, nitrite, plus ammonia nitrogen and hydrogen sulfide, all have to be tested. If testing shows any indicator does not meet the requirements, the shrimp will die and cannot be farmed."

Now, when talking about whiteleg shrimp farming techniques, Xu Lijuan speaks with great familiarity. She said that feeding whiteleg shrimp requires particular care: feeding too much is no good. No shrimp starve to death; only shrimp eat themselves to death. In addition, patrolling the ponds is also very important. Whether day or night, you must patrol the ponds once every one and a half to two hours. Once oxygen deficiency is found, you must aerate immediately. Even if the aerator pump breaks down, it must be repaired immediately overnight, otherwise all previous efforts will be wasted...

Hard work pays off. Starting from the second year, Xu Lijuan was able to make money farming whiteleg shrimp every year. Especially in the market season, distributors would come to her door to purchase. Farming went smoothly, and sales were no worry either, which made Xu Lijuan even more confident in her original choice. At present, Xu Lijuan's shrimp pond area has expanded to 750 mu. The whiteleg shrimp she farms are sold as far away as Shanghai, Hangzhou, Jiangsu, Shaoxing, Ningbo and other places, with annual sales reaching more than 6 million yuan. Even more gratifying is that she also helped 6 nearby villagers take up whiteleg shrimp farming and helped more than 100 villagers achieve reemployment.

"I am currently leading 6 households. Whatever they need, such as equipment and feed, they can all come to me to get it. If problems arise in the shrimp ponds at night, for example oxygen deficiency, I will go help them. My hope is that everyone walks the road to prosperity together," Xu Lijuan said.