Raising bamboo rats - a way to get rich for Nghe An people

Successful model of commune chairman

This species of bamboo rat, also known as "mold mouse", is afraid of noise and loves to eat bamboo, sugarcane, and corn in the dark. Currently, many people in Nghe An have succeeded in raising bamboo rats.raising bamboo rats, aiming to expand scale to increase income and get rich.

It can be affirmed that one of the successful people in raising bamboo rats is Mr. Cao Tien Thin, currently the Chairman of the People's Committee of Tan An Commune (Tan Ky). He said he was successful because, since 2019, he started raising bamboo rats. From a few initial breeding pairs, he learned from books and newspapers, and applied them in practice, and now they have reproduced hundreds of bamboo rats.

"Although bamboo rats are easy to raise, I was worried at first because I had no experience. However, after more than 3 years of caring for and monitoring their growth, I can now confirm that it is a success. Not only do we supply bamboo rats for meat, but we also have bamboo rats for breeding. Due to the increasing market demand, I will expand my scale in the future," said Mr. Cao Tien Thin.

Talking about the technique of raising bamboo rats, Mr. Thin said that the design of the bamboo cage is simple, does not take up much space, 100m2 can raise about 400 bamboo rats. The cage can be built or use 60 x 60 cm ceramic tiles to build a square. In particular, the cage must be airtight, located in a place with little noise, not exposed to direct sunlight.

There are many different species of bamboo rats, but the most common are large bamboo rats and small bamboo rats. Mr. Thin raises large bamboo rats, which weigh 1.5 - 2 kg/rat when sold. Bamboo rat meat is delicious, cool, and rich in protein, so many people buy it. Accordingly, although bamboo rat meat costs 600,000 VND/kg and bamboo rat breeding costs 1.5 - 2 million VND/pair, there are none for sale.

Put aside university degree to raise bamboo rats

Graduated from Vinh Pedagogical University in 2002, although he had been on the podium for 4 years, but after that, Mr. Nguyen Duc Truong did not continue to pursue a teaching career but chose the path of labor export in the hope of accumulating capital soon. After 2 years of working abroad, in 2014, from his hometown of Bac Thanh commune, he decided to go to the mountainous commune of Minh Thanh (Yen Thanh) tostart a businessThen bought 7,000 square meters of land in hamlet 8, Minh Thanh commune, combined with growing seedlings and raising bamboo rats.

Mr. Truong said that in early 2023, after completing the barn system, starting with 70 pairs of breeding rats, raising them while learning from experience from documents, the rat herd has now multiplied to 300 pairs. The reason for the rapid increase in the rat herd is that the mother rat gives birth to 3 litters each year, each litter from 1 to 4 babies. Seeing the high market demand, many people in the area came to learn how to raise them and were guided and supplied with breeding animals by him. However, the scale of raising them is still small and has not yet created goods.

"The easiest thing to raise bamboo rats is that they like to eat the most are bamboo stems, corn, and sugarcane. Cut the bamboo and sugarcane stems, split them, and throw them in for them to gnaw on all day. These foods are readily available in rural areas, so the cost is low. In addition, the cages are easy to build, so anyone can invest in raising them. Bamboo rats only eat dry, clean foods, and especially do not drink water, so the cages are always dry and less polluting to the environment. However, the suitable temperature for bamboo rats to develop is from 25 - 28 degrees Celsius, so it is necessary to invest in installing a steam fan system to cool them in the summer," said Mr. Nguyen Duc Truong.

Raising bamboo rats brings high value, good consumption market, opening up new economic development directions for farmers in livestock farming, contributing to economic promotion, hunger eradication and poverty reduction in localities. However, the model of raising bamboo rats in the province is still mainly small-scale, scattered in many places. Because food for bamboo rats is easy to find in rural areas and the cost of raising bamboo rats is not high, people are encouraged to raise bamboo rats for economic development./.