As one of the pioneers in bringing snails to the locality, after more than 5 years of starting a business, Mr. Vu Van Khai in Xuan Tien village, Quang Long commune (Quang Xuong) has succeeded with this model.
The snail farming model of Mr. Nguyen Van Khai's family in Xuan Tien village, Quang Long commune brings in a profit of about 400 million VND/year.
Previously, Mr. Khai mainly raised pigs and grew sedge, but production was unstable and did not bring economic efficiency as expected, so in mid-2019, he switched to learning about the snail farming model. Seeing that other provinces had done it, he was also determined to go to Thai Nguyen, Nam Dinh, Thai Binh to learn about the experience and technical methods of raising snails; at the same time, he bought some snail breeds for testing. With a capital of 100 million VND, Mr. Khai hired an excavator to dig 2 ponds and released the purchased snail breeds for testing. Thanks to applying the correct technical process, his snails grew quite well. After more than 3 months of farming, Mr. Khai harvested and sold 700 kg of commercial snails, bringing in a profit of nearly 50 million VND. From that success, in early 2020, he continued to dig 4 more ponds with an area of 2,500 m2 and imported 100,000 parent snails for breeding. At the same time, he divided the large pond into small ponds for easy management and care when the weather changed. After successive successful farming seasons, Mr. Khai has now built a complete snail farming model with a system of 7 ponds and 1 pond for raising duckweed to provide food for the snails.
Talking about snail farming techniques, Mr. Khai excitedly said: To have a successful snail crop, farmers need to understand the techniques as well as closely monitor the growth and development of the snails; regularly clean the pond because snails are very sensitive to dirty water; at the same time, they must know how to adjust the nutrients appropriately so that the snails' bodies are fat and their mouths are full, thereby achieving high productivity. The time for snails to start reproducing and laying eggs is from February to November of the lunar calendar, mainly at night and early morning. When snails reproduce, farmers need to collect the eggs and incubate them in a container at a temperature of 28 - 30 degrees Celsius, the incubation period lasts 10 days. After that, the snails will hatch, the farmer will take care of them for about 15 more days and can sell the offspring or transfer them to a large pond for commercial farming; take care of them for 3 months, when the snails reach a size of 25 snails/kg, they will be sold to the market. The food source for snails is very simple, mainly duckweed leaves, taro leaves... all of which are easy to find and can be grown yourself to save costs. In winter, it is the time when snails "hibernate", this is the right time for farmers to renovate ponds and nurture snails for the next crop.
After more than 5 years, Mr. Khai's farm has now stabilized and generated good income. Compared to the old model, the snail model brings many times higher economic efficiency. Currently, the commercial snails that Mr. Khai imports for the domestic and foreign markets cost 80,000 to 100,000 VND/kg. Seed snails cost 2 - 2.5 million VND/10,000 snails; snail eggs cost from 500,000 VND to 800,000 VND/kg. In 2023 alone, Mr. Khai supplied the market with 1.5 tons of commercial snails, 1 million seed snails and 300 kg of snail eggs. After deducting expenses, the profit is about 400 million VND. This model not only brings a stable income to the family but also helps 5 local workers have jobs with an income of 200,000 VND/day. In the near future, Mr. Khai plans to continue expanding the pond area as well as looking for households interested in cooperating to develop the snail farming profession.
Article and photos: Chi Pham
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