Black apple snails are densely farmed in a commune in Long An. People catch them and sell them as a specialty, and they are getting rich.

Raising black apple snails (stuffed snails) to sell as a specialty is a profession that brings good income to female farmers in My Loc commune, Can Giuoc district, Long An province.

At first, the owner only raised snails for her family to boil and eat for fun, but then some people came to buy them to take away. Seeing the potential for this type of snail to bring high profits, she decided to invest a small amount of capital but exceeded her expectations, earning nearly 300 million VND in profit each year.

Raising black apple snails, playing and eating...special products

On the afternoon of December 26, Dan Viet reporters visited the black snail farm of women's union member Nguyen Thi Thanh Hien (27 years old, residing in Loc Tien hamlet, My Loc commune, Can Giuoc district, Long An). Unable to hide her joy, she excitedly told about the "play for fun, make a living" profession that brought unexpected success.

Women's Union member Nguyen Thi Thanh Hien (27 years old, residing in Loc Tien hamlet, My Loc commune, Can Giuoc district, Long An province) raises black apple snails. Photo: Thien Long

"My family has a pond where we grow water spinach. We saw a lot of natural black apple snails. They eat vegetables and reproduce very quickly. At that time, I just caught snails to boil and eat for fun. Some local young people saw that and bought them at a cheap price. Thinking that this type of snail is easy to raise and sell, I decided to invest," said Ms. Hien.

Unable to use the snails in her pond, in early 2020, Ms. Hien went all the way to Hau Giang province to choose black apple snails. Because she wanted to experiment, she only bought 5kg for 150,000 VND and brought them all the way to Can Giuoc to raise them for breeding.

On a large area of ​​land, she made each tarpaulin tank measuring 2m x 4m and put black apple snails in it. The food for the snails is duckweed, soft-bodied plants, vegetables and fruits, but they must be clean; they must not be contaminated with pesticides or chemicals. The water in the tarpaulin tank is changed every week, through a fixed drainage line, so it is easy to do. Snails raised in tarpaulin tanks are very easy to care for, do not cost money, and it is easy to monitor the snails' growth, so the first day brought unexpected results.

The canvas pool of Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Hien (27 years old, living in Loc Tien hamlet, My Loc commune, Can Giuoc district, Long An) has grown a lot. Photo: Thien Long

From the initial 2 experimental tarpaulin tanks, Ms. Hien has now expanded her farming scale to 49 tarpaulin tanks on an area of ^{​​1,000m2} . To proactively source clean food on site, she also set aside ^2,000m2 to grow duckweed, taro, squash, pumpkin... to serve her children to "earn money" every day.

The young girl's unexpected success

After about 5 months of farming, snails can be harvested at a size of 20-25 snails/kg, with an average selling price of 50,000 VND/kg.

Through social networking sites, Ms. Hien promotes products to connect with the consumer market in Long An, and further a few provinces in the Central region. At the same time, "Ms. Hien's" snails are always in high demand. Therefore, she plans to make a model of kitchen snails to serve the market.

The "young owner" also revealed that in addition to selling snails to eat, she also sells snail eggs and baby snails to newbies.

According to Ms. Hien, from January to the end of July every year, snails reproduce at a very high density. The average price of snail eggs is 80,000 VND per nest, and selling per kilo is 300,000-500,000 VND (5 nests).

Buyers just need to put black snail eggs in a styrofoam box with a little water, bring it to the pond and let it in, the snails will hatch and gradually grow. For small snails, each costs 100 VND, anyone can choose as they like.

Ms. Hien believes that at this time, the eggs are hatching densely, so the more she sells to buyers, the better, and the higher her income will be.

"Raising snails is only profitable, never losing capital. Every year I earn nearly 300 million VND from the "black" snails in the pond, and it doesn't take too much time to take care of them. In the morning, after feeding the snails, I go to work, in the afternoon I come back to check the hygiene and deliver the large snails to the restaurant that ordered them. It's easy for a person to work and raise dozens of tanks of snails at the same time," she said.

According to the President of the Women's Union of Can Giuoc District, Huynh Thi Tuyet Hong, the initial investment cost for raising black apple snails is low, only 600,000 VND for a 2m x 4m tarpaulin tank, with simple farming techniques. Therefore, this model is very suitable for many women in rural areas. Currently, the district has replicated this model for women in some communes in the district to test and invest in snail farming.

Source: https://danviet.vn/oc-buou-den-nuoi-day-dac-o-mot-xa-long-an-dan-bat-len-ban-lam-con-dac-san-ma-giau-trong-thay-20241227151430528.htm