8X Nghe An spends billions to 'build a house' for 'heavenly blessings' to grow

The alluvial land of Phu Xuan hamlet (Trung Phuc Cuong commune) was previously left uncultivated, with reeds higher than people's heads due to being both isolated from the river and often flooded. By chance, Phan Ngoc Anh (born in 1987, Hung Thanh commune, Hung Nguyen district) discovered that this alluvial land had a lot of "ma" (worm nests) of earthworms. He rented the alluvial land in Trung Phuc Cuong commune and converted it into a pond for raising earthworms.

“My hometown is in Hung Thanh commune, near Chau Nhan area, famous for its specialty, the price of rươi when scarce is up to 700,000-800,000 VND/kg, equivalent to 100 kg of rice. However, this source of income is completely passive, gains and losses depend on the weather and only wait for the season to collect "luck". Due to the nature of my job, I have a lot of contact with Hai Duong people, directly visit and experience the "rươi warehouse" of Tu Ky, Thanh Ha and get to know Mr. Nguyen Van Suu from Hai Duong, so the two of us came up with the idea of ​​going to Nghe An to start a business by raising rươi", Ngoc Anh shared.

After renting the land, the two brothers poured billions of dong into the dozens of hectares of alluvial land to improve the land. The swampy, deep alluvial areas full of reeds and weeds were leveled and built into plots. Working hard day and night, dozens of workers used trowels, iron rakes to level the beds, level the mud and soil... for a whole year, the new plots and plots became the shape of a worm pond.

“It is called raising earthworms but in fact it is raising and caring for earthworms. Earthworms are already present in the ground, we just improve the fields, build houses for earthworms, create a favorable environment for earthworms to live and grow. Weeds and sedges are crushed into humus by a tiller to make food for earthworms. The land is plowed deeply, leveled, and made loose so that earthworms have a place to live, and with food available, earthworms will grow bigger, fatter, and sell for a higher price,” said Mr. Ngoc Anh.

According to Mr. Ngoc Anh's estimate, if 8 worm ponds are renovated, it will cost 4-5 billion VND to build irrigation canals, install sluice gates, improve the soil, and use organic humus as base fertilizer under the ponds. Spending a lot of capital, but if successful, the income from worm is not small.

Instead of depending on luck, with decades of experience raising earthworms in Hai Duong, Mr. Nguyen Van Suu said: “You have to know how to “call” the earthworms back, know how to raise them to be big and fat. That is to grow organic rice one crop, both to have income from rice and to create a natural source of nutrition for the earthworms, to help the soil become loose so that the earthworms can easily land and grow. Before, because there were no embankments, the earthworms floated with the water, and if you couldn’t catch them in time, they would all be lost. Now, the embankments are firmly reinforced, there are culverts to catch the earthworms, when the earthworms come up, the price is good, then you scoop them up to sell; and when the earthworms are cheap, you close the culverts, “store the earthworms”, wait for the price to go up, then drain the water, scoop them up to sell”.

In addition, earthworm farmers must clearly understand the growth and development characteristics of earthworms to know how to exploit them properly. In fact, earthworms are available all year round. Earthworms only grow and develop well in areas with salinity of about three parts per thousand.

The process of floating of the earthworm is actually the reproductive process. At that time, the earthworm is only as small as a toothpick, sometimes up to half a meter long, concentrating all its nutrients on its head and then breaking off, then finding its way from underground to the surface of the water. In its head are eggs, when it encounters salt water, they break, the earthworm eggs mix with the water bubbles, return to the pond to continue a new growth cycle.

The season for rươi is concentrated in the 9th and 11th lunar months, but it is still available in other months of the year, just in smaller quantities. Every month, around the 1st and 15th of the lunar month, the two times the water rises, rươi can still be found. At this time, rươi is less abundant but the price is good.

According to Ngoc Anh’s plan, in the near future, after completing the renovation of the pond, delicious rice varieties will be planted organically, both to generate income from rice and to create food for the earthworms. Also from the earthworm fields, there will be additional income from shrimp, goby fish, clams, crabs, etc.

“The most important thing is to adhere to the completely organic principle because the earthworm is a “monster” species, sensitive to chemicals. To preserve the earthworm, the only way is to build a house for it, such as building a bank to enclose the beach, improving the bottom of the pond, making the field surface porous and completely abandoning the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers,” said Mr. Ngoc Anh.

And to turn this deserted alluvial land into a rich earthworm farming area, the output for the earthworms is also very important. Therefore, in addition to selling fresh earthworms to wholesalers, he is completing the factory to process earthworms into specialties such as: earthworm paste, earthworm cakes, fish sauce, and earthworm cakes exploited from the earthworm fields. On the other hand, he registered to build a product with an OCOP "star", connecting consumption in the domestic market and aiming for export. In addition, Ngoc Anh also cherishes the plan for eco-tourism from the earthworm pond, both creating a source of income and promoting the culinary characteristics and specialties of the Lam River alluvial land.

However, investing billions in the field of rươi is still "risky" according to many people. Because, the area of ​​alluvial land outside the dike is agricultural land used for public purposes managed by the commune (5% land), leased by bidding (maximum period of 5 years according to regulations). Meanwhile, the time to improve the land and build a rươi farming area takes up to 2 years with a cost of up to 4-5 billion VND. Therefore, if only exploited for 3 years, it is very difficult to make a profit, if the weather is not favorable, it is considered a failure.

Mr. Phan Ngoc Anh confided: “I really hope that the local government will create conditions for long-term land lease by extending the time so that earthworm farmers like us can confidently invest long-term funds to develop earthworm farming. In addition to preserving a local aquatic species, developing it into a specialty, into a commodity, the earthworm farming itself will promote the advantages of the alluvial land, creating regular jobs for local workers. To maintain this earthworm pond, we still have to hire 15-20 workers every day with a salary of 350,000 VND/day.”