Dan Lai people get rich from raising bamboo-eating rats
(Baonghean.vn) - From one initial experimental household, up to now, the whole Luc Da commune (Con Cuong) has 10 households raising bamboo rats (also known as moldy rats) with a number of up to several thousand. This is a type of livestock that brings high economic efficiency, opening up prospects for livelihoods for people in this mountainous region.
If in the past, the family economy of Ms. Le Thi May - a Dan Lai ethnic household in Moi village (Luc Da commune) depended on slash-and-burn farming, life was quite difficult, but in the past 3 years, thanks to raising bamboo rats, she has had "food and savings". Taking advantage of the old abandoned house, the couple paved the floor to ensure hygiene and used ceramic tiles (the type used for cladding houses) to divide the cage into compartments, using silicon glue to stick the adjacent corners to fix them into 50 cm square blocks, each compartment raises a pair of parent bamboo rats or raises bamboo rats for meat or breeding.
Ms. Le Thi May said: “The house is near the forest, there are many bamboos, bamboo trees, and reeds, so the food for the bamboo rats is very rich. The temperature in this area is very suitable for raising bamboo rats. However, to raise them successfully, the breeder must grasp the techniques of caring for bamboo rats; understand the growth characteristics of bamboo rats; and know how to protect against heat and cold appropriately.”
According to Ms. May's calculation, every year,bamboo ratsAbout 3 litters, each litter, the mother rat gives birth to 3 to 4 baby rats. For meat rats, after about 6 to 8 months, they will reach a weight of 1.5 to 2.3 kg and can be sold on the market. Currently, with 300 pairs of parent rats, each month her family supplies the market with 30 to 40 pairs of breeding rats. Depending on the weight, the breeding rats have different prices, the type from 0.4 to 0.5 kg costs 1.2 million VND/pair; larger ones cost from 1.6 to 1.8 million VND.
Along with selling bamboo rats, her family farm also sells bamboo rats for meat to restaurants at prices ranging from 500,000 to 550,000 VND/kg, bringing in a total revenue of hundreds of millions of VND each year. In addition, bamboo rat droppings are also collected and treated with biological products to become very effective microbial fertilizer for plants, saving costs for households in farming.
If Ms. May is the first Dan Lai ethnic household to succeed with the bamboo rat raising model, before that, in Met village and Yen Hoa village, there were a few Thai ethnic households that escaped poverty and became well-off thanks to bamboo rat raising. From the effectiveness of the experimental households, the bamboo rat raising model in Luc Da gradually expanded.
Starting in 2021, Mr. Loc Van Truyen (Met village) has researched and learned about bamboo rat breeding models in the province. Realizing that the bamboo rat breeding model requires little initial investment, is easy to implement, requires little care and has good output, in early 2022 he imported the breed to raise.
“Initially, I only bought 10 pairs of breeding rats from a local facility for about 1.4 million VND/pair. After only 6 months, the rats reproduced and increased in number. Up to now, the total herd has reached 80 pairs,” said Mr. Truyen.
From a few initial cages, his family's farm has now expanded to 100 square meters and has installed more than 100 bamboo rat cages to multiply the herd. Each cage is designed with small gaps at the bottom for the rats to push waste and excess food out, ensuring hygiene of the cages.
“Raising bamboo rats is very leisurely and does not take much time. Every day, I only spend about 30 minutes cleaning the cage and feeding the rats. For adult bamboo rats, I feed them once a day, with a ration including a 5cm long piece of sugarcane, fresh bamboo sticks and dried corn. The food for the bamboo rats is self-sufficient. Bamboo and bamboo are cut from the forest; corn and sugarcane are grown in the garden, so I do not spend a penny on food for the bamboo rats,” said Mr. Truyen.
Up to now, the wholeLuc Da commune (Con Cuong)There are 10 households raising bamboo rats with a number of up to several thousand. This is a type of livestock that brings high economic efficiency, "one capital, four profits", opening up prospects for livelihoods for people in the mountains...
Mr. Vi Van Hien - Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Luc Da commune said: "Dui is a very easy to raise animal, low investment cost, fast capital turnover, low risk. In particular, the food source for dui in the locality is quite abundant; the raising technique is quite simple, suitable for the raising habits of the people. In general, the economic efficiency is quite high. Therefore, dui is a promising animal to create a stable livelihood for the people of Luc Da mountainous area".
