Nghe An farmers build ponds and line with tarpaulins to raise duckweed as food for pigs.

With a farm scale of about 30-40 wild boars per litter, Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh (Hamlet 1, Quynh Vinh Commune, Hoang Mai Town) chooses duckweed and water fern as green food for pigs. Accordingly, in the garden, in addition to the 2-sao pond area for both raising water fern and snails, to facilitate the collection of water fern, he also arranged 500m²lined pond for duckweed farming

“The favorite food of wild boars is duckweed, especially duckweed, which is very suitable for piglets from birth to 2 months old. Two 500m2 duckweed ponds², add mud, occasionally change the water and it will grow by itself, no need for seeds, no need for food for duckweed. Just scoop the duckweed up, pour it into the trough or mix it with rice bran or corn to ensure the pigs get enough nutrients. It saves both raising costs and cutting vegetables. At the same time, thanks to eating natural, clean food, the resistance of wild boars is also higher.

With a farm of 6 hectares, raising 100 wild sows and crossbred wild boars, producing 2,000 pigs each year, Ms. Nguyen Kim Tien (Hoa Hieu ward, Thai Hoa town) sets aside 1 hectare of pond to grow water hyacinth, water fern and duckweed to feed the pigs. Every day, 600 pigs (including sows and piglets) of the farm eat about 1-2 tons of water hyacinth.

Of the 6 regular workers on the farm, 2 are specialized in collecting water hyacinth. The water hyacinth is collected from the pond, the roots are removed, cleaned and tied into neat bundles. Then, it is transferred to each zone, distributed according to the number of pigs and simply released into the pen for the pigs to eat.

“This is the main source of green, rough food for our pig farm. Taking advantage of and being proactive with the source saves a considerable amount of money. Water hyacinth is easy-going, grows and develops quickly and strongly, so if you scoop up one layer, you can immediately plant another layer, so the pigs can eat it all year round.

Green food almost does not need to be bought; nor does it need to be sliced ​​or ground, so it is not labor-intensive. Pigs eat duckweed, guava leaves, loquat leaves, milkweed, eclipta, etc., so their resistance is better and their meat is more delicious,” said Ms. Nguyen Kim Tien, the farm owner.

In the harsh winter, to store food for pigs, she had workers collect tons of water hyacinth, after cleaning, put it in a chopper, and dry it. Then, weigh the ingredients and mix them in the following ratio: 100kg of wilted water hyacinth + 10kg of rice bran (corn flour, tapioca flour) + 0.5kg of salt. After 2 weeks, the fermented food is gradually fed to the pigs. "At the peak, when food prices are high and pig prices are low, using silage from water hyacinth helps the farm get through this difficult period, ensuring profitable farming," said Ms. Tien.

To do the VAC model, Mr. Nguyen Van Manh (Na Duoi village, Mau Duc commune, Con Cuong district) chose wild boar and native black pig as specialties to develop the economy. He has a 2,000m2 fish pond.², he circled 200m²Raise water hyacinth to make green food for pigs. At the same time, take advantage of young acacia leaves when they are harvested to feed pigs.

Mr. Manh said: “With a scale of 40 wild boars and native black pigs, the output is quite stable, the price is always at 140,000 VND - 170,000 VND/kg, the economic efficiency is many times higher than other livestock. In particular, taking advantage of available green food sources saves on raising costs, the pork has little fat, is firm, so it is very popular in the market.”

Nowadays, the trend of clean and natural livestock farming, especially specialty livestock such as wild boar and native black pig, is favored by the market. Therefore, many households, farms and ranches are interested in utilizing agricultural by-products as animal feed, not depending on industrial feed, both saving costs and improving meat quality, increasing product prices.