Nghe An farmers harvest fish on rice fields, collect money right in the fields
With the motto of not letting the land fallow, many households in Dien Chau district have actively raised fish on abandoned rice fields, achieving high productivity. As soon as the fish are harvested, they are sold quickly, with cash collected right at the field.
On the morning of December 15, on the road connecting Dien Hoa commune to Hanh Quang commune, Dien Chau district, there were dozens of people waiting to buy fish that had just been caught from the nearby fields. Despite the cold and rainy weather, the number of buyers kept increasing, everyone wanted to choose the freshest fish for their meals of the day.
It is known that this is the batch of fish that the people of Hanh Quang commune borrowed land that was not produced in the last Summer - Fall crop to convert into fish farming fields. After 4 months of stocking, it is now ready for harvest, with a variety of traditional freshwater fish such as: carp, silver carp, grass carp, snakehead fish...
Mr. Ngo Van Cay in Hanh Quang commune, a fish farmer in the rice fields, said: In recent years, local people have mainly produced rice in the spring crop to eat, while many people do not produce in the summer-autumn crop but do other jobs. Therefore, there is a lot of land left vacant in the summer-autumn crop. After consulting books, newspapers, and learning experiences online, my relatives and I borrowed 4 abandoned fields from local people to raise fish. Now we have to gradually harvest to return the fields to the people to prepare for the spring crop.
According to Mr. Cay, raising fish in rice fields has many advantages. Firstly, it is possible to take advantage of the unused rice fields to earn more income. Secondly, when raising the water level to raise fish, grass and stubble will decompose, providing both food for the fish and increasing humus for the soil. In addition, raising fish in the third crop costs less, thanks to taking advantage of the available food sources in nature.
According to observations, the fish that are raised when harvested are all large in size, especially carp and grass carp, each weighing from 1 to 3 kg. When harvested and brought to shore, there are people waiting to buy them at prices ranging from 50,000 to 70,000 VND/kg, especially for snakehead fish, the price is over 100,000 VND/kg.
Hanh Quang Commune authorities said: The form of fish farming on rice fields has been applied by local people in recent years and has brought quite high economic benefits. Local people currently mainly produce spring rice, and often leave it fallow in the summer-autumn crop because they have to go to work. In addition, the summer-autumn crop is often affected by storms, so many households are not interested in planting. Therefore, taking advantage of the fallow summer-autumn rice fields to raise fish is a good way and the locality always creates conditions for people to increase production. Preliminary statistics show that there are currently 5 households raising fish on rice fields with an area of about 4 hectares.
It is known that not only in Dien Chau district but also in other localities such as Hung Nguyen, Yen Thanh, Quynh Luu, etc., there have been similar models. According to the recommendations of professional agencies, for this form of farming, to increase efficiency, fish fry should be released in large, even, healthy sizes, to minimize loss and grow quickly during the farming process.
For fish to grow well, in addition to available food sources, it is necessary to supplement a certain amount of starchy food such as rice bran, corn, etc., and green food: duckweed, grass, taro leaves, cassava leaves, etc. Farmers need to coordinate with each other to guard and avoid the phenomenon of using electric shock to catch fish in the fields, which affects farming development.
In addition, to prevent disease outbreaks in fish raised in the fields, farmers must regularly change the water source in the fields and kill rats as well as chase away birds and storks, which often come to the fields to eat baby fish. During the rainy and stormy season, farmers raising fish must raise the banks and spread nets to prevent fish from leaving the fields. After each fishing season, farmers must drain the water to harvest the fish and return the fields to farmers to plant spring rice on time./.
