Get rich from the homeland

Raising tilapia, a new model with high economic efficiency.-Photo: TH

Turn fallow fields into lush rice fields

In previous years, the image of large areas of abandoned rice fields was no longer a rare sight in Hoan Lao commune. Due to high production costs, labor shortages and the effects of climate change, many farmers have left their fields fallow.

Like many other young men in the village, after finishing school, Phan Van Hien went to the South to work as a factory worker, then to Malaysia to work. Although he did many jobs and struggled with many things, life was still not comfortable. Returning to his hometown, on the pure agricultural land left by his ancestors, he was determined to start a business.

Mr. Hien shared: Agriculture is a very hard job with many risks due to unfavorable weather. We are children born and raised in the countryside, so when I saw the abandoned fields, I felt very sorry and thought that I needed to do something for my homeland. Instead of leaving the fields abandoned, my wife and I contacted families to rent the fields and grow rice, rebuilding the farming method in a new way.

Up to now, his family has rented rice fields for nearly 4 years, each crop is about 4 hectares, in the summer-autumn crop it can be up to 5-6 hectares. Since renting fields from households, his family has also purchased machinery, bringing mechanization into agricultural production to both free up labor, reduce production costs, and improve product quality.

According to Mr. Hien, farming is very hard and tiring, it takes a lot of work to prepare the land, sow the rice seedlings and transplant the rice, taking a whole month, always working from dawn to dusk in the fields. But now, with that much acreage, he and his wife only sow and plant in 3-4 days.

After half a month, hire more people to focus on pruning, caring for, and preventing pests and diseases. When the rice is ripe, hire a machine to harvest; within 2 days, the rice is packed into bags, saving a lot of production costs and increasing income value.

In 2024, the rice crop was good and the price was good, so I earned nearly 30 million VND in profit per hectare. This year, the winter-spring crop was favorable, but the summer-autumn crop had unseasonal rains, so we had to replant the entire area. Despite the risks caused by the weather, our family did not let the fields fallow, determined to get rich on our homeland's land.

In addition to the rice and fish model, his family currently raises 500 pigeons, 30 pigs, 300 chickens, ducks, geese, and swans. In particular, every year, around the 7th lunar month, he also raises nearly 1,000 ducks in the fields. Every year, after deducting expenses, his family earns more than 200 million VND.

Investing in raising tilapia

In addition to the lush green rice fields, on the family's 2,500 m2 ^pond , Mr. Hien boldly invested in raising tilapia. This is an easy-to-raise fish species, with good resistance, fast growth rate and importantly, a stable consumption market, and always high selling price.

Get rich from the homeland

Pigeon farming model of Mr. Phan Van Hien's family.-Photo: TH

Mr. Hien said: In the process of raising fish, the most important step is to renovate the pond and select the fish. The pond must be dredged, sprinkled with lime powder to remove alum, kill weeds, and dry the bottom for 7-10 days before taking water. The fish must be selected from reputable establishments, healthy, and of the same size to have a high survival rate. In the first year, due to lack of experience, he bought fish of unknown origin, and many fish died. But now, he has found a source of fish with a clear origin, guaranteed safety by the establishment, so he has been successful in every crop.

To reduce costs, in addition to industrial feed, Mr. Hien also takes advantage of available agricultural by-products such as rice bran and corn flour to supplement the fish feed source. In particular, he also researched and learned how to raise calcium worms (black soldier fly larvae) as food for fish and chickens. According to Mr. Hien, raising calcium worms is quite simple, only needing leftover food and items in family meals, beer lees, soybean residue, wine lees... to be able to raise this type of worm.

The life cycle of the calcium worm only lasts about 45 days and is divided into stages: Egg, larva, pupa, adult fly. On the 30th day, it is time to harvest the worms as food for chickens and fish, the harvest period lasts about 15 days.

On the 45th day, the larvae hatch into black soldier flies, they mate and continue to lay eggs to start a new cycle. In the entire growth process, the larvae are the most effective stage because they have high nutritional content, helping livestock grow healthily, reducing disease rates, reducing feed costs and increasing profits for livestock farmers.

In the process of raising climbing perch, he always pays attention to managing the water environment, regularly changing the water and applying biological disease prevention measures. In particular, he has researched and learned how to ferment garlic with biological products to prevent diseases for both fish and livestock, replacing antibiotics.

Thanks to the correct application of technical processes, up to now, with 2,500 m2 ^of ponds, each crop, the harvest yield reaches more than 3 tons of commercial fish, the selling price ranges from 45,000-55,000 VND/kg, after deducting all expenses, his family earns nearly 100 million VND from the fish pond.

Vice Chairman of Hoan Lao Commune People's Committee Nguyen Van Hai said: Mr. Phan Van Hien is a shining example of diligence, hard work, daring to think, daring to do, and creativity in production. His efforts have contributed to opening up a new perspective on economic development for local people, and is a typical example for many farmers to learn from.

In the coming time, we will continue to propagate, mobilize and create conditions for people not to abandon their fields, and to replicate the model of raising calcium worms to feed livestock to help farmers reduce production costs, increase income and stabilize their lives.

Thanh Hoa

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/lam-giau-tu-dong-dat-que-huong-195654.htm