Raising eels for reproduction combined with red blood worms saves costs and increases profits

Provincial Farmers' Association and local authorities visited Mr. Kiet's eel farming model.

Also a mud-free eel farming model like many other farming households, but Mr. Ho Anh Kiet's household, residing in Loc Vinh quarter, Loc Hung ward, Trang Bang town, has made a breakthrough. Not only selling eel meat for sale, he also proactively sources the breed and combines raising red worms and earthworms as a source of food on the spot, helping to reduce costs, increase productivity, profits, and minimize environmental pollution...

Realizing the effectiveness and huge demand for eel meat in the market, since 2018, Mr. Kiet decided to invest in two tarpaulin-lined tanks to import eels for meat farming. After more than 1 year of raising eels for meat, which required a lot of investment, Mr. Kiet switched to breeding eels for reproduction to proactively supply commercial fry on the spot.

Currently, Mr. Kiet's family has 2 eel farms in Cu Chi ( Ho Chi Minh City) and in Loc Vinh quarter, Loc Hung ward.

In particular, the farm in Loc Vinh quarter, Loc Hung ward has a total area of about 5,000m2, with both raising parent eels for reproduction and raising juvenile eels and commercial meat eels.

According to Mr. Kiet, 1 ton of parent eels will produce about 200,000 - 300,000 baby eels. With an area of 5,000m², each year produces about 1 million fry. The price of one fry is from 3,000 - 3,500 VND (depending on the time, sometimes up to 5,000 - 6,000 VND per fry). He earns about 2.5 billion VND from eel fry each year. After deducting expenses, he has a profit of about 500 million VND/year (at the time when eel prices are low).

With about 6,000 eel fry, after 8 months of raising, it can be harvested. The eel output from 6,000 eel fry is about 1 ton of commercial eel; revenue is about 100 million VND, after deducting expenses (seed, electricity, water, food...) the profit is about 30 million VND.

Workers release earthworms to feed eels.

In addition to actively raising eels for reproduction, Mr. Kiet also researched using wastewater from eel farming activities to raise red worms and earthworms, creating a local food source, reducing feed costs for eels and increasing profits.

To ensure a clean water source for the eels to grow, Mr. Kiet must discharge a portion of the water in the tank every day to replace it with new water. Meanwhile, the amount of wastewater discharged from eel farming activities contains a large amount of organic matter from eel feces and leftover food.

In order to save on feed costs during the farming process, Mr. Kiet uses this wastewater to raise red worms and earthworms as food for eels, helping to save a lot of costs while still ensuring enough nutrients for the eels to grow healthily.

According to Mr. Kiet, in previous years, when the price of eels was high (about 180,000 - 200,000 VND/kg), feeding eels with bran was still profitable, but for more than 2 years now, the price of eels has only been about 85,000 - 100,000 VND/kg, making it difficult for farmers to make a profit by feeding eels with industrial feed. Therefore, he has used wastewater from eel farming to raise red worms and earthworms, which has helped save costs and increase profits.

Mr. Kiet's red worm farming area.

Mr. Nguyen Van Binh - Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Loc Hung Ward said that the eel farming model has quite high economic efficiency, suitable for many households with small production land area; investment capital is not too high, giving relatively stable income... This is a suitable direction, helping farmers increase their income, contributing to the development of the local economy.

Mr. Pham Van Hai - Vice Chairman of Loc Hung Ward People's Committee assessed that Mr. Ho Anh Kiet is the first farmer to implement the model of breeding eels in the locality and achieve high economic efficiency. In the coming time, the locality will continue to create conditions for Mr. Kiet to expand the economic development model.

Good Virtue

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