Deer antler 'mine' of more than 4 tons exploited in Quynh Luu

(Baonghean.vn) - Raising sika deer for velvet brings high economic efficiency. Currently, Quynh Luu district(Nghe An) is planning to build a brand for deer antler products in the area.

Quynh Nghia commune currently has over 127 households raising deer with a total herd of 1,322 deer, including over 900 male deer and over 300 female deer. Deer raising in Quynh Nghia was formed very early, around the 1990s. Currently, on average, each household in Quynh Nghia has 2-3 deer, the largest household has 10-15 deer.

Quynh Luu deer velvet is popular with many people.

To develop deer farming and bring higher income, the commune regularly cooperates with livestock training facilities to train people on disease prevention, treatment, and deer care to achieve better results.

At the same time, the households established a deer breeding association to support each other in terms of techniques, care, antler cutting, and product consumption to improve efficiency. Therefore, the commune's annual deer antler products have high output, with total annual revenue reaching over 5.3 billion VND.

Livestock farm of Mr. Nguyen Canh Thang, Quynh Tan commune (Quynh Luu).

Mr. To Duy Hien - Chairman of Quynh Nghia Commune People's Committee said: "The profession of raising spotted deer in the commune has developed very early, the commune hopes that the superiors will support loans to develop spotted deer farming. Besides, we will continue to promote deer antler products, promote on the electronic information page so that everyone knows".

According to statistics, the total herd of deer in the coastal communes is currently 3,380 deer, of which Quynh Nghia has 1,322 deer, Quynh Luong has 500 deer, Quynh Minh has 736 deer and Quynh Bang has 750 deer. Each year, each deer can be harvested for antlers twice, weighing from 1.3-1.5 kg of antlers/animal. Currently, the selling price of deer antlers ranges from 900,000 VND - 1 million VND/100 g, so each year the total revenue from deer antlers in coastal communes reaches over 16 billion VND/year.

Deer are easy to raise, have high resistance so rarely get sick; their main food is grass, vegetables, and fruits.

However, currently, deer antler products have not created a brand, so the output for this product is not sustainable. Therefore, prices fluctuate erratically, causing difficulties in consuming deer antler products.

Currently, in Quynh Luu area, there are more than 15,000 deer. Deer antler output reaches 4 tons/year; revenue from deer antler is over 30 billion VND.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dinh - Head of the District Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said: Quynh Luu is a large area with favorable conditions and strengths to develop livestock farming, especially traditional deer farming. At this time, the district is visiting deer farms and deer antler processing facilities in Ha Tinh. Thereby, it will promote the development of deer farming, gradually build a brand and move towards building a deer antler processing factory in the district.

Viet Hung