At the beginning of the season, Anh Son farmers raise silkworms to eat cassava leaves for high profits.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong's family in village 1, Hoi Son commune, Anh Son district has been raising cassava leaf silkworms for 5 years now. Ms. Phuong shared: With many years of experience in raising silkworms, she finds that silkworms are the fastest to harvest and bring high profits.

Ms. Le Thi Duong in village 1, Hoi Son commune, said that raising cassava leaf silkworms is not difficult and does not take much time to care for. Photo: Thai Hien

Raising silkworms takes just over 15 days to harvest, and only in the last 7 days when the silkworms start eating do the silkworm breeders start working. According to Ms. Phuong, this time her family raised 3 baskets of silkworms, 1 basket of silkworms only costs about 100,000 VND to buy the breed, and after about 2 weeks of care, they can harvest 12-15 kg of silkworms.

This is the beginning of the season so silkworms are expensive, at 100,000 VND/kg, some days up to 120,000 VND/kg, each basket of silkworms brings in a profit of about 1 million VND.

Silkworms can be harvested after just over 15 days of raising. Photo: Thai Hien

For Ms. Le Thi Duong's family in village 1, Hoi Son commune, these days, all members are busy going to the fields to pick cassava leaves, because the silkworms are in the feeding stage. According to Ms. Duong, the family has more than 1 hectare of cassava raw materials, and there is no need to worry about food sources, so for the past 3 years, the family has been raising silkworms from cassava leaves.

Every year, Ms. Duong's family raises about 8 - 10 batches of silkworms, each batch has 4 baskets. Each basket of silkworms brings in a profit of 1 million VND within 15 days, each batch brings her family 4 - 5 million VND.

In recent years, in Anh Son district, many households have switched to silkworm farming, because there is an abundant food source from 1,200 hectares of cassava raw materials. Localities with many people participating in silkworm farming are mainly in the communes: Tho Son, Binh Son, Tuong Son, Hoa Son, Hoi Son...

In Anh Son district, many households have switched to silkworm farming. Photo: Thai Hien

This is a type of silkworm used for food processing, has high nutritional content, and is popular. After harvesting, silkworms are purchased by traders at the site and transported to various places in the province for consumption.

According to the calculations of silkworm breeders in Anh Son, each silkworm basket only requires an investment of about 100,000 VND for seeds. After about 15 days, one can collect 12 - 15 kg of silkworm meat, and after deducting expenses, the profit is from 1 - 1.2 million VND.

Currently, localities are encouraging the model of raising silkworms to eat cassava leaves, because raising silkworms to eat cassava leaves brings "double" efficiency, from growing cassava for tubers and taking leaves to raise silkworms.