Silkworm farming for food in Nghe An

(Baonghean.vn) -Silkworm breeding and silk weaving are traditional occupations ofDang Son commune (Do Luong).In recent years, people have switched to the model of raising silkworms for food, which requires little capital but has high economic efficiency.

As a commune along the Lam River, with favorable land conditions, Dang Son people have been attached to the profession of growing mulberry, raising silkworms, and weaving silk for a long time. However, in recent times, due to the difficulty of consuming silk, people here have switched to raising silkworms for food as daily food and processing functional foods...

As a commune along the Lam River, Dang Son people have long been attached to the profession of growing mulberry and raising silkworms.

Currently, Dang Son raises two types of silkworms: white silkworms originating from China, raised to produce cocoons and silk, and pure Vietnamese yellow silkworms originating from Thai Binh, raised for food. Nowadays, people mainly raise yellow silkworms.

The advantage of raising silkworms for food is that the raising time is short, without having to wait for the silkworms to form cocoons, from the time of incubation of eggs until the silkworms are "ripe", the harvest is about 20 days. About a week before selling ripe silkworms, households often buy eggs to incubate a new batch, so as soon as they are sold, they have a batch of silkworms that can eat 5 or 6, maintaining regular silkworm raising in the house.

Households here often use the outer space of their houses to raise silkworms for food. In the photo:Mrs. Hoang Thi Ly in hamlet 3 is taking care of silkworms.almost "ripe" at home

Raising silkworms requires little capital, just need to buy some bamboo poles, set aside a part of alluvial land on the riverbank to grow mulberry and you can raise silkworms. Each box of silkworm eggs bought for breeding currently costs about 70 thousand dong. Although the work is easy, silkworm breeders must be diligent, every 3 hours must feed the silkworms once. In addition, they must be careful in keeping the breeding area clean, avoiding toxic gases...

The time to raise silkworms for food is short, families with labor can raise 3 batches/month, each batch produces an average of about 40 - 50 kg.

Dang Son commune currently has 5/7 hamlets participating in silkworm farming (each hamlet has about a few dozen households), of which hamlet 3, Xuan Nhu village is the hamlet with the most silkworm farming in the commune with more than 50 households. In hamlet 3, there are 5 households that purchase products, sell eggs, incubate, raise, and purchase cocoons and silkworms for food for households in the hamlet. Ms. Hoang Thi Ly (45 years old) - a person with decades of experience in silkworm farming said: "My family has been raising silkworms for a long time, compared to other plants and animals, raising silkworms is easy, "quick to eat", requires little capital but quick profits".

Food silkworms in Dang Son are sold all over the countryside.

The time to raise silkworms for food is short, families with labor can raise 3 batches/month, each batch produces an average of 40 - 50 kg. Silkworms for food are purchased by traders at home, the current wholesale price is 50 - 55 thousand VND/kg, if the silkworms are not ripe, the price can go up to 70 thousand VND/kg. Compared to raising silkworms to sell cocoons - silk (100 thousand VND/kg), raising silkworms for food is much more profitable. Growing mulberry and raising silkworms for food has contributed to making use of land, creating jobs, bringing income to each household from 3 - 6 million VND/month. On the days when the silkworms are ripe, in Do Luong, silkworms for food are sold all over the country roads, a nutritious, cheap, delicious, clean dish, loved by many people.

Mr. Bui Duc Vinh, Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Dang Son Commune, shared: “Silkworm farming is a traditional occupation in the locality. In recent years, raising silkworms for food has been a job that brings fast and good income to the people here. If the market and product output issues are well resolved, the silkworm farming of the people in Dang Son will develop strongly and achieve much higher economic efficiency.”

Huy Thu