As one of the pioneers in bringing snail farming to the locality, after more than 5 years of starting his business, Mr. Vu Van Khai in Xuan Tien village, Quang Long commune (Quang Xuong district) has achieved success with this model.
The snail farming model of Mr. Nguyen Van Khai's family in Xuan Tien village, Quang Long commune, yields a profit of approximately 400 million VND per year.
Previously, Mr. Khai mainly raised pigs and cultivated reeds. However, production was unstable and did not yield the expected economic results, so in mid-2019, he switched to researching the model of raising apple snails. Seeing that other provinces were doing it successfully, he decided to travel to Thai Nguyen, Nam Dinh, and Thai Binh to learn from their experience and techniques for raising apple snails; at the same time, he bought some snail breeding stock to experiment with. With a capital of 100 million VND, Mr. Khai hired an excavator to dig two ponds and stocked them with the purchased snail breeding stock for trial. Thanks to applying the correct technical procedures, his snail population grew quite well. After more than 3 months of raising, Mr. Khai harvested and sold 700 kg of commercial snails, bringing in a profit of nearly 50 million VND. From that success, in early 2020, he continued to dig four more ponds with an area of 2,500 m2 and imported 100,000 parent snail breeding stock to breed. At the same time, he divided the large pond into smaller ponds for easier management and care whenever the weather changed. After several consecutive successful farming seasons, Mr. Khai has now built a complete snail farming model with a system of 7 ponds and 1 pond for growing water hyacinth to feed the snails.
Speaking about snail farming techniques, Mr. Khai enthusiastically shared: "For a successful snail farming season, farmers need to thoroughly understand the techniques and closely monitor the growth and development of the snails; regularly clean the ponds because snails are very sensitive to dirty water; and adjust the nutrients appropriately so that the snails are plump and have full mouths, thus achieving high productivity. The time for snails to start reproducing and laying eggs is from February to November in the lunar calendar, mainly laying eggs at night and early morning. When the snails reproduce, farmers need to collect the eggs and incubate them in containers at a temperature of 28-30 degrees Celsius for 10 days. After that, the snails will hatch, and farmers care for them for another 15 days before selling the hatchlings or transferring them to larger ponds for commercial farming; after 3 months, when the snails reach a size of 25 snails/kg, they can be sold on the market." Regarding the snails' food source, it's extremely simple, mainly consisting of water hyacinth leaves, taro leaves, etc., all of which are easy to find and can be grown at home to save costs. Winter is the time when apple snails "hibernate," making it an ideal time for farmers to renovate ponds and raise snails for subsequent harvests.
After more than 5 years, Mr. Khai's farm is now stable and generating good income. Compared to the old model, the snail farming model yields significantly higher economic efficiency. Currently, Mr. Khai supplies commercial snails to markets inside and outside the province at a price of 80,000 to 100,000 VND/kg. Snail hatchlings cost 2-2.5 million VND per 10,000 snails; snail eggs cost from 500,000 to 800,000 VND/kg. In 2023 alone, Mr. Khai supplied the market with 1.5 tons of commercial snails, 1 million snail hatchlings, and 300 kg of snail eggs. After deducting expenses, he earned a profit of approximately 400 million VND. This model not only provides a stable income for his family but also creates jobs for 5 local workers, earning 200,000 VND per day. In the future, Mr. Khai plans to further expand the area of his snail ponds and seek out households interested in cooperating to develop the snail farming business.
Text and photos: Chi Pham
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