Raising soft-shell turtles nets profit of 100 million VND/year

(Baonghean.vn) - From learning from experience,Mr. Tran Trong Nhi, Cao Son hamlet, Vinh Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district (Nghe An)Successfully tested and self-bred soft-shelled turtles.

Soft-shelled turtle of Mr. Tran Trong Nhi's household (Vinh Thanh)

In 2004, Mr. Tran Trong Nhi boldly packed his bags and went to soft-shell turtle farms in Ha Tinh to visit, learn and grasp science and technology. Returning home, taking advantage of the available shallow water source of the N2 canal near his home, he planned to rent an excavator to dig and build a solid pond system (pond area from 200 - 300m2) with a scientific water supply system and bought nearly 1,000 soft-shell turtles for breeding. After two years, he sold them for nearly 300 million VND, minus the cost of investing in seeds and food, he made a profit of about 50 million VND.

Seeing the effectiveness, Mr. Nhi's family has continued to maintain the number and scale of ponds until now. He shared: Raising soft-shell turtles is not hard, but requires perseverance and patience because each batch takes two years to harvest. However, the market price is stable, so the economic efficiency is quite good.

Mr. Tran Trong Nhi said: To raise smooth softshell turtles, you must pay attention to building a solid embankment, 80-90cm deep, change the water regularly at least once a week, the important thing is to clean the pond before raising, focusing on preventing fungal diseases.

Softshell turtles are easy to raise and have few diseases. To be successful, breeders must understand them well, paying attention to the water source and feeding techniques is very important.

Farmers need to build a solid embankment, 80-90cm deep, change the water regularly at least once a week, it is important to clean the pond before raising, focusing on preventing fungal diseases on soft-shell turtles.

Drawing on experience in animal husbandry and learning more through books, newspapers and documents, for more than 2 years now, Mr. Tran Trong Nhi has been proactive in self-sufficient in breeding sources, significantly reducing costs in animal husbandry. Every year after hatching, the male and female breeds must be separated into separate ponds so that they do not bite each other. When the soft-shell turtles enter the reproductive stage, combine raising 1 male and 3 females, set aside a separate pond covered with 20 - 30cm thick sand for the soft-shell turtles to crawl up and lay eggs, pay attention to regular visits to check for appropriate humidity, and avoid rotting eggs when hatching.

Thanks to experience and strict adherence to technical procedures, the hatching rate in his family's shallow pond always reaches 80%. Each fish produces about 70 eggs per year, and the most suitable incubation and breeding season is in the third and fourth lunar months every year.

Soft-shelled turtle eggs

According to Mr. Nhi, soft-shell turtles eat all kinds of fish and snails, but the food is suitable for each stage and must be ground into small pieces and made into pellets to be dropped into the pond.

Every day, soft-shell turtles eat about 6-7kg of fresh fish. In particular, soft-shell turtles eat a lot when it's hot, eat less when it's cool, and don't eat anything when it's cold. Currently, on 500 square meters with 4 solid ponds, Mr. Nhi raises nearly 1,000 soft-shell turtles, small ones weigh a few ounces, large ones weigh about 1kg. Each turtle takes nearly 2 years from hatching to selling.

Mr. Tran Trong Nhi calculated: soft-shell turtles have beautiful shapes, grow quickly, and have delicious meat quality, so the market is very fond of them. The price ranges from 350,000 to 450,000 VND/kg. With the above quantity, each year of raising them brings in a net profit of about 100 million VND. Currently, he is self-sufficient in breeding sources, so his profit has increased by 15-20%. He is continuing to plan and expand the pond area to about 1,000m2 for breeding and can provide breeding to people who are in need.

Mr. Nhi checks turtle eggs

Mr. Nguyen Cong Dinh - Agriculture Department of Vinh Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district said: Mr. Tran Trong Nhi's soft-shell turtle farming model is one of the effective business models in Vinh Thanh commune.

In addition to experience and techniques, this profession also requires a large investment capital, so not all farmers can do it. Therefore, the commune regularly cares and creates conditions for households, especially people, to be bold and daring in raising livestock and to be given access to preferential capital sources to enrich themselves legitimately.

Anh Tuan - Phan Hien