Cricket farming - a model to increase income in urban areas

Mr. Nguyen Van Hung has a cricket farm with more than 40 cages. According to him, cricket farming requires new techniques for high economic efficiency.

Taking advantage of a small area of land in the city, Mr. Nguyen Van Hung (in Tan Quoi Hung hamlet, Truong An ward, Vinh Long city) raises crickets to increase his income. The model is highly effective, so he rents land to continue expanding the area. Currently, the cricket farm generates an income of more than 1 million VND per day.

Leading us to the cricket farm with 40 cages that looked quite large, Mr. Hung happily said that at first he only raised 10 cages at home. Raising effectively, "plus acquaintances sharing farming experiences and introducing output", so he boldly expanded. Accordingly, he rented an additional 700m2 of land next to his house, expanded to 40 cages and planted cassava as food for crickets.

Introducing the cricket cages of all ages, including 2 cages of breeding crickets, Mr. Hung said: "After 1 day and 1 night, each cage like this produces about 6 nests (the size of 3 new cages), 10 days later the baby crickets hatch. As soon as they hatch, the crickets know how to eat immediately". Raising crickets from hatching to harvest takes about 30 days, each kilogram of meat crickets costs about 2 kilograms of food (the type of bran for quails), the current price is 330,000 VND/bag.

During the rearing process, if you feed them a lot of vegetables and leaves, the food will be reduced. Accordingly, you can take advantage of homegrown vegetables and leaves because "crickets can eat cassava leaves, Malabar spinach, sweet potato leaves, water hyacinth, sugarcane... and even banana trees" - Mr. Hung said.

According to Mr. Hung, the time for high productivity is from January to May of the lunar calendar, and from July to October of the lunar calendar every year because crickets prefer weather that is not too hot or too cold. In favorable weather, each cage can harvest about 15kg; in unfavorable weather, crickets are lost 7-8kg...

Currently, he sells 15-20kg of meat crickets per day, delivering them to customers in Vinh Long City and sending them by truck to Can Tho, Dong Thap, Ca Mau ... with prices ranging from 90,000-100,000 VND/kg. In addition, he has partnered with dozens of other cricket farms to meet the supply needs of customers. In addition to live crickets, Mr. Hung also sells crickets that have been selected, cleaned, and frozen at a wholesale price of 120,000 VND/kg "which can be thawed and then rolled in flour and fried or fried with fish sauce...".

All day long, he stays in the cricket cage to feed and water the crickets to keep them moist… but Mr. Hung said, “crickets are easy to raise and take care of. You only need to spend money on food, and for vegetables, you can go to the garden or find them in vacant lots, or collect water hyacinths from the river…”

However, it is necessary to understand the characteristics and techniques of raising wingless crickets to sell for a high price; if they have wings, they can only be sold to chickens. If they are fed to birds, the price will be lower and the efficiency will not be high. "After deducting expenses, the profit is about more than 1 million VND/day" - Mr. Hung calculated. He also said that if the temperature of the cage can be controlled, the productivity will be high all year round, so he is planning to invest in upgrading the cage to a more modern one.

Ms. Dinh Thi Hong - Chairman of the People's Committee of Truong An Ward, said that the cricket farming model has quite high economic efficiency. Besides this model, the ward also has urban agricultural models with high efficiency such as: growing melons, orchids, ornamental flowers, oyster mushrooms... "It is expected that in the near future, we will continue to expand the models, aiming to increase income for people" - Ms. Dinh Thi Hong said.

Ms. Nguy Mong Cam - Head of the Economic Department of Vinh Long City, said that in recent years, the city's agriculture has developed in the direction of increasing productivity, quality and economic efficiency on cultivated land. The structure of the agricultural sector has shifted positively towards urban agriculture, applying science to production. Agricultural extension has played a positive role in transferring and applying scientific and technical advances to production. In particular, the application of high technology to agricultural production has been and is the right direction, helping farmers minimize risks from adverse weather and epidemics. At the same time, it contributes to improving productivity and product quality compared to traditional production.

Article and photos: NAM ANH - NGUYEN XUAN

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