Quang Nam Failed from collecting chicken feathers to sell, Mr. Nguyen Ha Thien researched to turn them into organic fertilizer, bringing in a revenue of 200 million VND per month.
At the end of November, the chicken feather organic fertilizer production facility of Mr. Thien, 31 years old, in the planned industrial cluster area of Duy Nghia commune, Duy Xuyen district, had four workers operating machinery. The factory is designed as a closed system, with an odor treatment system.
Nguyen Ha Thien next to a pile of newly purchased chicken feathers to produce organic fertilizer. Photo: Dac Thanh
Born in Duy Phuoc commune, Duy Xuyen district, after finishing 12th grade, Mr. Thien followed his family's business by opening a clothing shop and a beer house in Hoi An city. The job brought in a good income, but he was not satisfied and wanted to find a new way to do business.
In 2021, knowing that Can Tho was buying chicken feathers to export to China, Thien became the main source of poultry feathers in the Central region, dried them, and sold them for 8 million VND per ton. He sold about 15 tons of chicken feathers per month. After three months, traders forced the price down to 5 million VND per ton, and there was no more profit, so he stopped.
Because he had signed a contract with a poultry slaughterhouse owner, Thien had to buy chicken feathers and find a kumquat garden owner in Hoi An to sell them. Chicken feathers contain protein, calcium, magnesium, sodium, copper, and nitrogen, which help plants grow well, especially kumquat trees for sale during Tet. However, chicken feathers applied directly will create bacteria, mites, and bad odors.
"Why not turn chicken feathers into organic fertilizer, limiting the disadvantages compared to direct fertilization?", Thien wondered.
To test it, he dried the chicken feathers and hired a mechanic to design a dryer and grinder system worth nearly 600 million VND. However, drying the chicken feathers at high temperatures would produce foul-smelling biogas, affecting the surrounding area. After drying and grinding, the granular chicken feathers could not be compressed into pellets.
Chicken feathers are mixed with rice bran, rice husks, and probiotics and left to decompose for 30-50 days, then dried and put into a grinder. Photo: Dac Thanh
Thien only got some parts from the self-made machine, the rest he had to sell as scrap metal, losing about 500 million VND, losing all his capital. Relatives and friends advised him to stop, avoid falling into debt, because "whatever is easy will not be your turn".
But Mr. Thien is not discouraged. "As long as I can breathe, I can still make a living. The clothing store and the pub still generate income," he explained, explaining that he borrowed money from the bank and relatives to pursue the production of organic fertilizer from chicken feathers.
Seeing farmers mix manure with rice husks and rice bran powder, let it decompose and then fertilize plants, Mr. Thien tried to do the same. He took the chicken feathers, drained them, then mixed them with rice husks, rice bran and various types of probiotics. After many trials with different ratios of rice husks, bran and different types of yeast, he finally found his own formula.
Chicken feathers account for 70%, the rest is rice husks, rice bran, and probiotics mixed together and composted for 30-50 days, the odor is reduced by 80% compared to drying. The chicken feather mixture is left to dry, then put into a fine grinder and compressed into pellets. Tested on plants, organic chicken feather fertilizer helps plants grow well, with outstanding productivity.
Fertilizing with chicken feathers also stimulates earthworm growth and loosens the soil. If this type is spread on the ground, it still has a smell that will dissipate after about 4 hours. To fertilize plants, you need to dig up the soil, spread the fertilizer, and then cover it up, said Mr. Thien.
Chicken feather pellets are sold for 10,000-22,000 VND/kg. Photo: Dac Thanh
Because the facility is located in a residential area, it generates bad odors, so people complained. Mr. Thien was forced to move the facility to Duy Nghia commune, where the industrial cluster is planned and is far from the residential area. He invested more than 2.5 billion VND in the new facility with a closed corrugated iron house system, treating bad odors with activated carbon.
From August 2023, the facility will operate stably, purchasing about 1.7 tons of poultry feathers every day from more than 30 slaughterhouses in Da Nang and Quang Nam. After incubation and production, each ton of fresh feathers will produce about 400 kg of organic fertilizer.
Each month, the facility sells about 30 tons of organic chicken feather manure to the Central and Southern provinces, priced at 10,000-22,000 VND/kg, with a revenue of 200 million VND. After deducting expenses, Thien earns about 30 million VND per month. The facility is creating jobs for four people, earning 5-7 million VND per month.
"My wish is to expand production scale, but the facility is currently only rented short-term. Hopefully in the future, when the industrial park is formed, the government will lease the land long-term," Thien said.
Ms. Le Thanh Nga, owner of the Old Brick Kiln Farm in Duy Vinh Commune, Duy Xuyen District, said she bought chicken feather manure from Mr. Thien to test on a vegetable bed and compared it with another vegetable bed using manure. The result was that the vegetable bed using chicken feather manure had a faster germination rate, greener vegetables, and especially the soil was more porous than the other bed. "I bought chicken feather manure to fertilize 500 square meters of vegetable growing area. The price is reasonable, the fertilizer is good for both plants and soil," she said.
Currently cultivating 2 hectares of purple rice, in the next crop, Ms. Nga plans to use organic chicken feather fertilizer on a part of the area as a control for the field using manure. If it is suitable for rice, she will replace manure. Because manure must be purchased and then composted, it takes a lot of effort.
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