'Jackfruit crab' on e-commerce platform helps farmers escape poverty

"Teacher" raising crab seeds

Mr. Nguyen Viet Bac (38 years old, lecturer at Ca Mau Community College) was nicknamed "crab doctor" by his friends and relatives because he associated his entire career with crabs.

Dr. Nguyen Viet Bac was born into a poor farming family in the countryside of Dam Doi district. His childhood was always associated with the word "hardship" from the time he went to school until he graduated. He chose to stick with crabs, the strength of the locality, to start a business and escape poverty. From breeding crabs to raising crabs for fattening, Dr. Bac experienced many levels of failure and success.

"Once, I fattened about 100kg of crabs, ready to sell them for Tet at a high price. However, the next morning, all the crabs in the tank were dead. Feeling sorry for the loss, my family had to make crab cakes to eat. It was a meal of tears," Mr. Bac recalled the unforgettable memory.

Jackfruit crab hatchery in Kien Giang with 70 ponds of Dr. Bac.

Through many failures, Dr. Bac is now known by many people as the owner of a project to fatten two-shell crabs (crabs about to molt - PV), meat crabs and roe crabs in a centralized circulating water tank system - the only project in the country in the 2010s. After that, Mr. Bac transferred the technology to many local people, including many poor households who have risen out of poverty and become rich from crab farming.

From that success, Mr. Bac tested the crab breeding model, but only raised "jackfruit crabs" - crabs as big as jackfruit seeds, with shells about 3cm long.

Thinking is doing, he joined hands with friends to open a jackfruit crab hatchery in Kien Giang with 70 ponds and linked up with a number of hatcheries in Ca Mau and Kien Giang to provide a stable source of crab seeds (pepper crabs).

Dr. Nguyen Viet Bac said that due to the characteristics of rice-shrimp and rice-crab farming areas, farmers need to harvest shrimp and crabs quickly to keep up with the season, so they have to release large crabs. Normally, releasing small crabs will take 3-4 months to harvest, but releasing jackfruit crabs (large) can be harvested in just over 2 months. Farmers even seek to release 'clock crabs' (the size of a clock face - PV) to shorten the farming time.

Crab food.

Mr. Bac said that normally, people raise crabs at a salinity of about 35 parts per thousand (‰), and it takes 45 days to reach the stage of 'jackfruit crab'. Meanwhile, jackfruit crab can limit the intake of miscellaneous fish and is suitable for 2-stage crab farming, 'avoiding' the disease of crustaceans. In addition, in industrial shrimp farming areas, farmers often choose jackfruit crab and clock crab to treat silver-coated mussels, saving the cost of using chemicals for treatment.

Bringing "crab and jackfruit" to e-commerce platforms

To raise jackfruit crabs, the farmer will initially have to treat the pond, remove alum, treat crustacean larvae, and provide food for the crabs. When food is available, the farmer will select grade 1 pepper crabs to release as seeds. Each breeding process usually lasts 25-45 days (depending on salinity and food source) and will harvest to sell jackfruit crab seeds, according to the size needs of customers.

Jackfruit crab in the Mekong Delta market costs about 2,800 VND/crab.

“Jackfruit crabs are popular in the market because they have good vitality. However, jackfruit crabs are very risky if they are not sold in time, the crabs will stir up the bottom of the pond and you will not be able to react in time, you may lose everything,” said Mr. Bac. He currently sells crab seeds nationwide, with a profit of about 10%.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Nguyen Minh Tuan's business (living in Kien Giang province) fell into a deadlock, having to borrow up to 2 billion VND to cover work and living expenses. He had to give up everything and return to his hometown to raise crabs to earn money to take care of his wife and children.

"At first, I took the crabs lightly, thinking that raising them would be successful, without paying much attention to the techniques. Thanks to the connection and Dr. Bac's guidance in experience and techniques, I gradually overcame adversity, built a crab breeding farm and escaped poverty," Mr. Tuan confided.

Currently, the price of jackfruit crab in the Mekong Delta is about 2,800 VND/crab; in the North, the price is from 3,500 - 3,800 VND/crab, due to high transportation costs. Mr. Bac is proud to be one of the successful people in promoting "jackfruit crab" on e-commerce platforms.

After more than a year of testing, Mr. Bac initially had success with the model of raising crabs the size of jackfruit seeds. "I am willing to guide any student who wants to breed jackfruit. Currently, in Ca Mau, I also have 2 students following the path of raising jackfruit crabs to help their families develop the economy and improve their lives," said Mr. Bac.

Currently, many students who have been guided and taught crab farming technology by Mr. Bac have mostly got jobs and earned quite high incomes. Many of them have helped their families and neighbors escape poverty with the profession they learned.

Each crab farming process usually lasts 25-45 days (depending on salinity and food source).

In teaching, Dr. Bac also has many scientific initiatives and won many high awards such as: 3rd prize at the National level in the design competition of self-made training equipment "commercial crab farming system and fattening of sea crabs"; 2nd prize in the Ca Mau startup competition with a project to intensively raise soft-shell crabs, soft-shell crabs, roe crabs, meat crabs and value-added products from sea crabs, combined with experiential tourism; 3rd prize in the Mekong Delta startup competition.

Tan Loc

Source: https://tienphong.vn/cua-mit-len-san-thuong-mai-dien-tu-giup-nong-dan-thoat-ngheo-post1743908.tpo