Raising specialty large-mouth fish, earning 1 billion VND per year

Mr. Duong Thanh Trang, an agricultural officer of An Thanh Nam commune (Cu Lao Dung district, Soc Trang province) said: "Mr. Kiet was the first person to apply the model of raising the specialty catfish in the district. Later, many people followed suit but were not successful, so they got bored and quit the job. Only Mr. Kiet maintained and developed well, so every year he raised big fish, that's how delicious it is...".

Mr. Nguyen Van Kiet harvests and sells silver pomfret fish.

An Thanh Nam commune has many strips of land adjacent to large river mouths, from which many people make a living by trawling the sea, so there are many sources of catfish of all sizes. According to many people here, catfish have two forms: living in freshwater upstream and fish in saltwater adjacent to freshwater (also called brackish water) in large rivers.

However, many traders rate the quality of brackish water snakehead fish as better, so the purchase price is also higher from 10,000 to 15,000 VND/kg.

Knowing the above characteristics, since 2011, on an area of ​​8,000m2 of water surface (8 hectares), Mr. Kiet has raised 12,000 young catfish with a purchase price of 5,000 VND/fish from fishing boats on large rivers. After 2 months of raising, he sold about 5,000 young fish at a price of 12,000 to 15,000 VND/fish; the remaining fish he raised for another 10 months and sold 8 tons at a price of 100,000 VND/kg.

In this first crop, after deducting all expenses, Mr. Kiet earned a profit of 800 million VND from selling baby snakehead fish and meat.

In 2018, Mr. Kiet harvested an estimated 12 tons of silver pomfret, with the purchase price set by traders at 135,000 VND/kg, Mr. Kiet earned a profit of 1 billion VND.

According to Mr. Kiet, the breeding season of the catfish is usually from November to March of the following year. At this time, the source of fingerlings in the rivers is quite abundant. Therefore, to raise catfish, farmers must purchase fingerlings from those who work with nets and push nets along large rivers, on the alluvial flats at the foot of mangrove forests.

There are many sources of catfish fry in the wild, farmers only have to spend time raising them. Catfish feed is mainly from scrap fish so it is easy to find and low cost...

Since 2014, Mr. Kiet has completely switched to raising and selling catfish for meat. He explained: “Currently, catfish fingerlings are being hunted intensively in the wild with all kinds of fishing tools. These fish are often very weak and have a high risk of loss for the breeder. Besides, I only buy standard catfish to raise and sell for meat. Doing so is both “safe” and also helps to prevent the young fish from being unjustly exterminated.”

The pond area for raising specialty fish of Mr. Nguyen Van Kiet's family.

Mr. Kiet shared his experience: "When raising catfish, you must pay close attention to diseases that can easily arise such as intestinal bloating, white shell... The pond for raising catfish must be clean and airy... Catfish are fed twice a day, in the morning and afternoon. If you raise a lot, use industrial pellets for catfish. If raised properly, after 12 months, catfish will reach a weight of 1-1.2 kg/fish...".

In 2017, Mr. Kiet sold 11 tons of catfish at 110,000 VND/kg, after deducting all expenses, he had a net profit of over 800 million VND. In 2018, Mr. Kiet harvested an estimated 12 tons of catfish, with the deposit price of 135,000 VND/kg from traders, Mr. Kiet earned a profit of 1 billion VND.

Riding on the success, in 2018, from the profits from raising catfish accumulated in previous years, Mr. Kiet rented an additional 40,000 square meters of water surface next to Tien River to raise 300,000 giant freshwater prawns and hundreds of thousands of pangasius fish. The price of giant freshwater prawns and pangasius fish was better towards the end of 2018, Mr. Kiet earned a net profit of 1 billion VND from these two aquatic species.