Riding motorbikes across the fields to hunt for 'flying shrimp' and earn millions every day

Summer-autumn rice is in the stage of preparation for harvest, and there are quite a lot of locusts appearing in the fields. Being purchased by traders at attractive prices from 150,000 - 200,000 VND/kg, many farmers in Nghe An use motorbikes, along with 2 giant nets, to run on the internal roads every day to catch them.

Grasshopper catchers drive their motorbikes continuously through the fields every day. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Mr. Ho Van Tien in Quynh Trang commune (Hoang Mai town) said: Since the beginning of August, every day he carries a net and rides a motorbike to catch locusts in Dien Chau and Yen Thanh districts.

The tools used to catch locusts are two giant nets placed on both sides of the motorbike. Photo: Xuan Hoang

"The tools to catch locusts are very simple, just buy 2 giant nets, 60 x 60 cm wide mouth, 1.5 m long net, worth about 200,000 VND, and an old motorbike. When reaching a certain inner-field road, I ride my motorbike at a moderate speed, with a steady throttle, the locusts on both sides of the road easily fall into the net mouth and cannot escape.

After each batch, we have to pick up the trash and throw it away to continue running the next batch. Photo: Xuan Hoang

After running a batch, clean up all the trash at the bottom of the net to gather the locusts into a separate sack. At this time, there are quite a lot of locusts, so each day you can catch 8 - 10 kg, bring them back to sell to traders for 150,000 - 200,000 VND. After deducting all expenses for gas, food, etc., you can still earn over 1 million VND each day.

"Traders buy it, then transport it to Hanoi for consumption, and can process it into specialty dishes. 10 days ago, they bought it for 200,000 VND/kg, but due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, it has now dropped to 150,000 VND/kg" - said Mr. Ho Van Tien.

Locusts are currently purchased by Nghe An traders at a price of 150,000 - 200,000 VND/kg. Photo: Xuan Hoang

There are no statistics on how many Nghe An farmers are currently engaged in this kind of locust hunting. However, according to Mr. Tien, the buyers are from Hoang Mai town, so there are quite a few people in Hoang Mai town who are engaged in locust catching. Every day, people go to the rice fields in the delta districts: Hoang Mai town, Quynh Luu, Dien Chau, Yen Thanh, Do Luong... and the number of locusts caught is up to hundreds of kilograms.

"The job of catching locusts lasts for a whole month, from when the rice flowers until after harvest, because there are many locusts in the fields," said Ho Van Tien.

Locust hunting helps protect crops and increase people's income, so every locality supports it.

Grasshoppers in the countryside are processed into a specialty dish in many places.