MATCh startup finalist from Viet Nam, Dai Thanh Seafood, found a unique solution to keep shrimp healthy and farms profitable. Tran Phuc Hau discovered that ground sugarcane bagasse provides an ideal nutrient combination to the shrimp, water, and pond environment.  

Shrimp aren’t the only benefactors of sugarcane flour; pond water maintains more stable alkalinity, grows good algae, and lowers ammonia in the pond bottom. These improvements greatly reduce operational costs to the farmers and are environmentally friendly. Replacing traditional fertilizers and feeds with sugarcane also increases farmer livelihood as traditional methods were becoming costly and unprofitable.
Tran Phuc Hau opened Dai Thanh Aquatic Medicine Store in Bai Dinh town in 2014, supplying aquaculture medicines to farmers in the surrounding areas. He invested in sugarcane bagasse to supply farmers with intensive and semi-intensive shrimp farms. The product cost only 5,000VND (.22 USD) per kilogram for a day’s supply.  Overtime, farmers have seen noticeable, positive results. 

Dai Thanh Seafood was a startup finalist at the Mekong Agritech Challenge (MATCh) Demo Day in Hanoi, Vietnam. MATCh will continue to support this startup in achieving their growth projection and beyond. MATCh is a program of the Mekong Business Initiative, a private sector development partnership of the Asian Development Bank and the Government of Australia that equips entrepreneurs to scale and thrive.