The story of shrimp farmer Sun Xuemin getting rich through science and technology

Sun Xuemin, a specialized shrimp farmer in Wangwenzhuang Town, Xiqing District, only has a junior high school education, but he has always relied on science and technology to conduct fish and shrimp farming. After 22 years of diligent struggle, he has become a leader who has helped dozens of surrounding villagers get rich.

When the reporter arrived at Tianjin Hengxing Fumin Aquaculture Professional Cooperative, General Manager Sun Xuemin was standing in the water, constantly feeling around with his hands. He said he has to stand in the water like this for three hours every day.

"Every day I rely on feel. At the beginning, I couldn't tell feed from silt and couldn't distinguish them well. After a long time, once feed and silt are in my hand, I can feel the difference. When I touch fish feed, it is soft, and its softness is different from that of silt. Sometimes if I can see a diseased shrimp, I also have to scoop it up. If there is a problem with the shrimp, measures must be taken and nets used. If I touch feed, then tomorrow the feed in the pond should be reduced."

Sun Xuemin is 40 years old this year. At the age of 18, he began following his father into fishery farming, and he has been doing it for 22 years. At first, his father took him to visit markets. Later, as his father gradually grew older, starting in 2008 he handed the family aquaculture farm over to Sun Xuemin. But that very year, problems appeared in fishery farming. The large buyers who used to come from Inner Mongolia, the three northeastern provinces and other places to buy fish suddenly all stopped coming to him to buy fish. Sun Xuemin could only shift to the Beijing market. Beijing customers bought more shrimp than fish, so Sun Xuemin began raising shrimp and polyculturing fish. However, with the change in farming model, problems followed. "The pond looked like it had a lot of shrimp, and then in a moment they were all gone. Today there were shrimp, then after a rain, the next day the shrimp were reduced. At that time, net profit was 1,000 yuan per mu. If there were no shrimp, the loss was 400 to 500 yuan per mu. With more than 2,000 mu of land, the loss was more than 1 million yuan."

Just after his father handed over a business he had run for many years, Sun Xuemin encountered such a great difficulty, and his mood was very heavy.

He said: "My father entered this industry in 1983, and I followed him into this industry in 1994. I already have feelings for the industry. Every day I go around the ponds, go into the water to feel for shrimp, look at the situation of the shrimp in the ponds, and look at the condition of the shrimp. I also can't sleep, thinking about what fish to polyculture to raise the yield." Besides studying farming methods himself, during that period Sun Xuemin went every day to Tianjin Agricultural University and the Xiqing District Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Bureau to learn farming techniques, and invited experts to the ponds to jointly study farming methods. Hard work pays off, and he soon found his own set of scientific farming solutions.

"Put 50 channel catfish in one mu, and polyculture 50 grass carp. They need to be large; small ones won't do. If they are large, they eat diseased shrimp, and cannot catch healthy shrimp, so they have no chance to eat shrimp." Sun Xuemin tasted the sweetness brought by scientific farming. Starting in 2014, he introduced new varieties and new technologies and carried out the promotion and application of new varieties such as Ukrainian scaly carp, Zhongke No. 3 allogynogenetic silver crucian carp, Pacific white shrimp and channel catfish, as well as pond culture capacity optimization technology, a new polyculture model in brackish water bodies and comprehensive supporting new technologies. Now, whether raising fish or shrimp, Sun Xuemin does not dare be careless in the slightest. Every day he walks around the ponds two to three times, which combined is equivalent to walking 14 kilometers a day. He says what he wears out most are his shoes, and he wears out a pair every month.

Sun Xuemin's father said: "No matter how busy he is, he will come back to feel for shrimp, see how the ponds are doing, and check whether any have died. This is especially valuable. He does things solidly, and does exactly what he says."

Under Sun Xuemin's management, his farming area reaches 800 mu, with more than 23.9 million fry of various species stocked, including 23.6 million Pacific white shrimp. In the aquaculture production process, Sun Xuemin insists on taking healthy ecological aquaculture as the direction, strictly follows relevant standards for feed, fishery drugs and other inputs, and pays attention to aquatic product quality and safety work during the fry stocking period, fish and shrimp growth period, and fish and shrimp harvest period. The fish and shrimp he raises all passed inspection in all batches and all varieties in spot checks organized by aquatic product law enforcement departments at the municipal and district levels, with no prohibited drugs detected, ensuring the quality and safety of aquatic products on the market.

Fan Zhenzhong, director of the Xiqing District Fisheries Technology Promotion Station, said: "Sun Xuemin is not old, and he inherited aquaculture from his father. He can love whatever work he does, and he has learned from his father to value science and endure hardship. He is indeed diligent and uncomplaining, and relying on science and technology has played a great role in the development of the enterprise." While focusing on his own development, Sun Xuemin also does not forget to enthusiastically support rural science popularization and public welfare causes. He uses the cooperative's existing water quality testing instruments and equipment and the aquaculture knowledge he has learned and mastered to serve surrounding fishermen. By organizing technical training, providing free water quality testing and diagnosing fish diseases, he helps them solve farming difficulties in the production process and helps more than 30 surrounding farming households engage in pond aquaculture, with each household increasing annual net benefits by 15,000 yuan.

Sun Xuemin said: "No matter how rich I am myself, it is useless. Everyone works in this industry, and only if we have the ability to push Tianjin's aquaculture industry to a new level is that good."