Farmers in mountainous district of Huong Son share experiences in raising black apple snails

With serious and methodical investment, Mr. Nguyen Tien Nhat (born in 1969, Thuan My village, Tan My Ha commune, Huong Son district (Ha Tinh) has succeeded with the black apple snail farming model, bringing in high income.

Unlike many other economic models, Mr. Nhat's apple snails are released in many batches, so the ponds always have products to sell.

Realizing that black apple snails are a highly nutritious dish, popular with people but increasingly scarce in the natural environment, in 2020, after consulting the internet, Mr. Nguyen Tien Nhat (born in 1969, Thuan My village, Tan My Ha commune) decided to invest more than 100 million VND, renovating 2 ponds, each pond has an area of ​​500 ^m2 , buying 20,000 snails to raise to increase family income. Mr. Nhat is one of the pioneers in black apple snail farming in Huong Son district.

“All beginnings are hard”, he started experimenting due to lack of technique and experience, moreover, in 2020, the prolonged cold weather caused nearly half of the snails to die, causing him to lose more than 50 million VND.

Mr. Nhat grows a lot of cassava as food for snails.

After the failure of the first crop, Mr. Nhat was not discouraged but went to large farms in other localities in and outside the province to learn more. In particular, he went to training courses on snail farming techniques organized by the Duc Tho and Can Loc Farmers' Association to learn more about the farming process.

In the following breeding sessions, thanks to his mastery of the technique, the snails gradually developed and grew well. From there, he drew lessons from snail breeding experience to create high economic efficiency. According to him, black apple snails are a type of snail that likes cleanliness, only living in clean, unpolluted water; if not proactively taking good preventive measures, the snails are very susceptible to diseases such as intestinal diseases, swollen mouths, etc. Therefore, before releasing the snails, he always pays attention to treating the pond with calcium lime (dolemite).

Snails are raised according to technical processes so they have good quality and beautiful appearance.

During the rearing process, every 10 days he continues to spread dolemite once to treat the pond to help the snails stay healthy and grow quickly. When raising black apple snails, it is important to pay attention to providing adequate and regular food, not overfeeding. The food of black apple snails is mainly duckweed, water fern, cassava leaves, squash, and pumpkin, which are very cheap and easy to find.

In particular, black apple snails are not heat-resistant, so in the summer, you have to pay attention to preventing heat by adding duckweed to the pond, cooling it with a net or planting climbing plants to cover it. In the winter, the snails are almost inactive, so the farmer has to reduce the water in the pond, add more duckweed and lotus flowers to keep the animals warm. When the snails lay eggs, he collects the egg nests and puts them in a separate tank, installs light bulbs and sprays water daily to create a suitable humid environment for the snail eggs to develop, and they can be sold after about 20 days.

Mr. Nhat also added that raising black apple snails is easy to care for, does not require much effort, and has a quick capital recovery time. In early 2021, Mr. Nhat continued to expand 4 more ponds, releasing 45,000 larvae. At the end of that year, Mr. Thu earned more than 100 million VND from this model.

Thanks to his mastery of techniques, his family now has 8 snail ponds with nearly 80,000 snails including seed snails, parent snails, and meat snails. Depending on the time, the price of snails varies, but ranges from 80,000 - 110,000 VND/kg for meat snails; 3 - 3.5 million VND/kg for seed snails; 150 - 250 thousand VND/kg for parent snails.

Mr. Nhat often uses available leaves such as lotus, grass, and cassava to feed snails.

From 2022 to now, each year, 8 ponds have brought in an income of over 200 million VND for Mr. Nhat's family. Currently, black apple snails are a popular dish among people, so they are easy to consume. In the near future, Mr. Nhat plans to continue renting 2-3 more ponds to increase his income.

Chairman of Tan My Commune People's Committee Ha Tran Kim Chi said that although the farming time is not long, with a firm grasp of the technical process, Mr. Nguyen Tien Nhat's model brings quite high economic efficiency. In 2023, his ponds will harvest an estimated 20 tons of black snails. In addition to commercial snails, the model also produces apple snail seeds with an annual income of 40 - 50 million VND.

The success of Mr. Nguyen Tien Nhat's black snail farming model has opened up a new direction for people in the district in diversifying their farming structure. We are continuing to review and replicate it to contribute to improving people's income and promoting local economic development.

Mr. Le Dinh Phuoc

Vice Chairman of Huong Son District Farmers' Association

Hoai Nam

Source: https://baohatinh.vn/nong-nghiep/nong-dan-huyen-mien-nui-huong-son-chia-se-kinh-nghiem-nuoi-oc-buou-den/259240.htm