Earn half a million a day from hunting crickets after the flood in Nghe An

Heavy rains in late September caused floodwaters to rise, forcing crickets from their burrows along the riverbanks to move to floating grounds and climb bushes to avoid flooding. People from communes along the Lam River from Anh Son to Hung Nguyen flocked to catch crickets. Some people earned between VND500,000 and VND1 million a day from selling crickets.

For about 10 days now, Nguyen Thi Hang and her husband, Thanh Tien commune (Thanh Chuong) have been taking advantage of the early morning or noon to go to the Lam river alluvial land to catch crickets. The tools they bring are 10-liter plastic cans, shovels, and plastic bottles with holes in them. At the vast land areas along the river, hundreds of new mounds of earth have emerged, signs of cricket nests. Scooping river water into the plastic cans, removing the top layer of soil, when he sees the mouth of the hole, he pours water in, it is flooded, a fat cricket crawls out of the nest, the wife quickly catches the crickets and puts them in a plastic bottle she carries with her.

“Now the flood water is gradually receding, the old cricket nests are filled up, crickets make new nests. Therefore, hunting crickets is easier because the new nests are easy to recognize, just pour water in and the crickets will crawl out of the hole, no need to dig. However, hunting crickets requires quick hands and eyes, if you are slow, they will jump to another place or crawl into a deep hole, making it very difficult to catch them,” said Ms. Hang.

Not only Ms. Hang, but hunting crickets during the flood season has become a seasonal job for people along the Lam River such as Thanh Tien, Thanh Linh, Thanh Dong, Ngoc Son... There are people who hunt crickets just for fun, to "have fun", but most of them hunt crickets to sell, to earn extra income during rainy days. There are people who, in just one hunting session, can catch several hundred crickets, at the market price of 2,000-3,000 VND/cricket, also bringing in an income of 500,000 - 700,000 VND.

These days, Ngu Van Quan's group (Thach Son hamlet, Ngoc Son commune, Thanh Chuong) has been actively hunting crickets. When the river water rises, he and his friends row a boat along the Lam river to catch crickets. Some days, his group catches 700-1,000 crickets.

Mr. Quan said: “During the flood season, crickets crawl out of their holes and cling to tree branches, vines, and bushes to avoid flooding. Therefore, there is no need to dig, catch, or pour out water. All you need is to be quick and skillful to catch the crickets and put them in a net bag to carry with you. All the crickets you catch are bought by shops. On peak days, each person can earn 500,000 - 700,000 VND.”

Cricket hunting after floods is also a seasonal occupation for people in Thuong Tan Loc, Trung Phuc Cuong (Nam Dan), Long Xa, Chau Nhan (Hung Nguyen) communes. Ms. Nguyen Thi Vinh in Hamlet 1, Chau Nhan (Hung Nguyen) commune, said: “Every year, when the flood season comes, people go to the sandbank to catch crickets to eat or sell. The higher the floodwaters rise, the more crickets there are and the easier they are to catch. Many people in the village go digging for crickets, especially on Saturdays and Sundays, adults and children all go to the sandbank to hunt crickets. People with few children can catch a few hundred crickets in a session. Families with many people can sometimes catch thousands of crickets a day, easily earning millions of dong.”

Along the Lam River dike, on the beach are groups of 3-5 people carrying plastic cans, hoes, shovels and net bags to hunt crickets. On high mounds of land where floodwaters cannot inundate, there are many crickets. During this season, crickets come to the beach to avoid floods and dig holes to make nests to breed, so they are very easy to hunt.

According to the experience of long-time cricket hunters, the number of crickets depends on the weather. The year with a lot of rain, floods and fog is the year that many crickets come to the caves.

There are many ways to hunt crickets. If it is a rainy day and the crickets are clinging to tree branches, you just need to catch them, catch them, or scoop them up. Normally, you can pour water into the cave to let the crickets come out, or use a hoe to chop them down and follow them down into the cave, or use a steel wire with a spring to thread inside to catch them...

“My family has 3 sao of alluvial land. This season, we grow corn. The water level is high, so 30% of the land is flooded. Income from the fields is very unstable. Luckily, during the flood season, cricket hunting also brings a good income to the family, helping to cover many expenses,” said Mr. Nguyen Ba Hanh, a resident of Thuong Tan Loc commune.

If in the past, crickets were just a snack for families, now they have become a "specialty" and are bought by traders at high prices. If female crickets are big and plump, they are bought for 3,000 VND/cricket; male crickets are cheaper, only 1,500-2,000 VND/cricket; if sold by weight, they cost 300,000 - 500,000 VND/kg. During the cricket season, there are traders who can buy hundreds of kilograms of crickets/day. After being collected, crickets are processed by plucking off the wings, cutting off the tails, removing all the intestines and washing them, canned and imported to drinking establishments, and frozen and imported to other provinces and cities.

Ms. Nga Tai, a trader in Phuc Son commune (Anh Son) who specializes in buying crickets in Anh Son, Do Luong said: "The cricket season only lasts about 2 months, in which the most crickets are on days of high floods. Like the past 10 days, on average I buy about 20 - 30kg/day from people in the area. My facility also creates seasonal jobs for about 3 workers to process crickets, with an income of 20,000 VND/hour".