Commune officials share cricket and chameleon farming model with locals
(Baonghean.vn) - Having a passion for crickets, after just one encounter, Lang Van Hien was determined to get rich from raising crickets and geckos. Hien's way of doing things also surprised many people, which was that he raised crickets for sale and also used them as food for geckos.
In a small house in Na Tong village (Tam Thai commune, Tuong Duong district), Lang Van Hien (born in 1984) is busy checking his dozen boxes of crickets that are more than a week old. When guests come in, he happily shows off the crickets that are clinging tightly to the leaves. Hearing the noise, the crickets scurry to the bottom of the box to hide.
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| Cricket farming model of Lang Van Hien. Photo: Dao Tho |
Over a cup of tea, Lang Van Hien confided that, despite being quite busy as Vice Chairman of the Commune People's Council, he still maintains his passion for raising insects and reptiles. In 2016, while visiting Quy Chau district, he enjoyed a dish of fried crickets that made him extremely excited. When he returned home, Hien learned how to raise and care for them and was determined to get rich from this insect.
After preparing the house and boxes, in 2017, Lang Van Hien went to Vinh city to buy cricket seeds to try to incubate. After more than a week, he was happy to see swarms of tiny crickets like ants clinging densely around the boxes. However, that joy did not last long as the crickets died like straw. "The weather was too cold and my breeding experience was not much, so all the crickets died" - Lang Van Hien said.
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| Lang Van Hien checks the cricket cages. Photo: Dao Tho |
However, that failure made him even more determined. Meanwhile, the people in this highland village found his work "unique". They thought that crickets were insects that lived in the wild, so how could they be raised? Yet he still worked hard to start over from the beginning. Learning from his previous failure, Hien boldly invested in more lamps to warm the crickets. According to Hien, the total amount of money spent was nearly 40 million VND.
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| Crickets' food is vegetables and tubers grown in home gardens. Photo: Dinh Tuan |
Since then, Lang Van Hien's 11 cricket boxes, each about 2 square meters in size, have grown rapidly. "Crickets are herbivores, but it takes a lot of work to care for and monitor them every day. In return, they are harvested quickly, in just over a month, so it's easy to recover the capital," said Lang Van Hien.
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| Crickets over 1 week old. Photo: Dinh Tuan |
In fact, Hien has only just started raising crickets again, but in 2018 he has harvested 4 batches of crickets. Currently, each kilogram of crickets is sold on the market for 200 - 250 thousand VND, so up to this point Hien's model has earned nearly 20 million VND.
Currently, he is investing in building cages and testing the breeding of forest geckos, which he buys from local people at a price of 150-170 thousand VND/gecko. The main food of geckos is crickets. In addition, he also invests in buying insect-attracting light bulbs to supplement their food. Thanks to ensuring a food source, Hien's geckos are growing very well.
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| Forest gecko, a new breed being tested by Lang Van Hien. Photo: Dao Tho |
Currently, with the experience and effectiveness of the model, Hien is providing cricket seeds and transferring techniques to many farmers in the commune. According to his assessment, the households that he transferred techniques and seeds to are all growing well and have a good income.
Lang Van Hien hopes that the cricket farming model will help many local farming households develop their economy and increase their family income./.
