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| Model of raising yellow ants as natural enemies to prevent and control pests in Mr. Long's family's cocoa garden |
• NATURAL ENEMY OF PESTS AND DISEASES
Instead of using pesticides, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Long applied the method of raising weaver ants in the garden to control and destroy pests and aphids that are harmful to crops. According to Mr. Long, his family grows 5 sao of cocoa, with more than 350 trees. In 2021, cocoa prices were low, excluding the cost of investing in fertilizers and pesticides, about 4 - 5 million VND per month, so it was considered unprofitable. At that time, many households in Phuoc Cat 2 commune had cut down cocoa to switch to growing other crops, but Mr. Long proactively sought ways to save on investment costs to keep the garden.
During this time, during a visit to the garden, Mr. Long saw some yellow ant nests on the cocoa trees. Surprisingly, there were no harmful pests on the cocoa trees with ant nests. Mr. Long said: “After many months of not using pesticides, most of the cocoa gardens were damaged by leaf rollers, beetles and aphids. But strangely, some trees with yellow ants nests grew very well and still produced fruit regularly. Seeing that, I went online to find out and found that yellow ants are very beneficial for plants, especially citrus trees. The way to raise and multiply yellow ant nests is very simple, just hang chicken or duck intestines on the tree and the yellow ants will come together to make nests very quickly. According to the instructions on the internet, I just followed them to multiply yellow ant nests.”
After more than 2 months, the yellow ants spread throughout the garden, with thousands of yellow ants making nests on each cocoa tree. The living and development habits of yellow ants are also very special, they combine leaves to make nests. More specifically, the food of yellow ants is mainly beetles and various types of worms and aphids. From here, yellow ants became "natural enemies" that destroyed harmful pests, helping the cocoa garden to quickly recover after a long period of lack of care. From here, Mr. Long's family switched to organic cocoa production. Although the price of cocoa at that time dropped sharply, thanks to raising yellow ants, saving on pesticide costs, the products were completely clean, so they were sold at a higher price than the general market price and made a profit.
• CLEAR EFFECT
Persisting with the new direction of raising yellow ants for more than 2 years to preserve the cocoa garden, by 2024, the price of cocoa began to increase sharply from 4 thousand VND to 10 thousand VND and is currently priced at 17 thousand VND/kg, thereby helping Mr. Long's family and many other households to preserve the cocoa garden and gain success. Since yellow ants covered the cocoa garden, harmful pests such as stink bugs, aphids, beetles, leafminers, mealybugs, stink ants... have all been completely destroyed. Thanks to that, Mr. Long's family's cocoa garden does not use pesticides, but is almost 100% pest-free.
“With weaver ants as natural enemies, my family does not have to use pesticides to spray on the plants, so it completely reduces costs and does not take much effort. This brings many health benefits, balances the ecosystem, protects the environment, and reduces investment costs. In particular, without using pesticides, in the dry season, cocoa flowers still bear fruit naturally, without rotting or falling due to the heat of pesticides. Thanks to that, the productivity and yield of the cocoa garden have increased significantly,” Mr. Long added.
In particular, compared to other households, his family's cocoa garden not only increases productivity and output, but the cocoa fruit is also large, with beautiful, shiny skin and a very clear difference in quality. According to Mr. Long, from the beginning of 2025 until now, his family's 5 sao of cocoa has yielded nearly 6 tons of fruit. With a selling price of 17,000 VND/kg, it has brought his family an income of more than 30 million VND/month. From the effectiveness of raising weaver ants in the cocoa garden, Mr. Long's family is expanding to other crops such as durian and cashew.
According to Mr. Dang Van Phuoc - Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Phuoc Cat 2 Commune (Da Huoai District), previously, cocoa was only an intercrop under the cashew canopy chosen by local people to increase their income. In the past 2 years, the area of pure cocoa has increased rapidly and the whole commune has reached nearly 50 hectares, of which 14 hectares are being harvested. With current prices, cocoa is a crop that is bringing high efficiency to local people. In particular, in the commune there is a cocoa purchasing and processing point, so the current supply has not met the demand, so people do not have to worry about output. “The model of raising weaver ants on the cocoa garden of Mr. Nguyen Thanh Long's family in Phuoc Thai village is bringing many benefits. According to the assessment, Mr. Long's cocoa garden is giving the highest yield in the commune, the products are of organic quality. Currently, Phuoc Cat 2 commune is developing a plan for people to replicate the model of raising weaver ants, especially citrus crops, including cocoa. Thereby, moving towards clean agricultural products for the safety of people's health", Mr. Dang Van Phuoc added.
Source: https://baolamdong.vn/kinh-te/202503/nuoi-kien-lam-thien-dich-phong-sau-benh-cho-cay-trong-9356ce4/
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