Insects are being bought in Nghe An at a price of millions of VND/kg.

Working in the business of importing medicinal herbs for Northern traders, from 2022 until now, Ms. Hoang Thuy (Lang Thanh, Yen Thanh) has also purchased insects such as: caterpillars, beetles...

Ms. Thuy said: “This season, in the corn, bean, and sesame fields, there are many three-striped bugs (small yellow-banded caterpillars, less than 1 cm long, black body with yellow spots or horizontal stripes) living and eating leaves and flowers. Therefore, when traders place orders, I post on Facebook to buy three-striped bugs. Instead of using chemicals to spray, many people take advantage of the time to catch bugs, both to protect crops and to sell for money.”

According to Ms. Thuy, the price of this type of bug is quite expensive, 1kg of live bug costs 300 - 350,000 VND; the price of dried bug is up to 900 - 1,000,000 VND/kg.

Specializing in purchasing all kinds of insects, Mr. Van Hao (Khai Son, Anh Son) said that currently, he mainly imports the collected goods to the North for wholesalers or directly sells to Chinese traders who buy at the border gate. The most sought-after items at this time are types such as: honeycomb shells, wasps, ground wasps; 3-striped beetles, dung beetles, cicada shells, stink bugs and some other types of beetles.

The prices of these insects range from a few hundred to a million VND/kg. Specifically: dung beetles cost 700,000 - 800,000 VND/kg, bean beetles cost 1 million VND/kg, honeycombs cost 600,000 VND/kg, especially black stink bugs cost up to 3 million VND/kg (dried type).

“Usually, I post on local groups and fanpages to collect goods. Those who have them take pictures, record videos, negotiate prices, then deposit and ship the goods. If I can ensure that they are the right type, dry and of good quality, I transfer the remaining amount. Either I buy directly or order from a local trader to collect the goods. The areas are mainly mountainous districts, sometimes even in Laos,” said Mr. Hao.

Where there is demand, there is supply. Many people take advantage of their free time to catch bean beetles, black stink bugs, and dung beetles to sell to traders. Mr. Nguyen Viet Linh in Duc Son (Anh Son) said: "Three-striped beetles often live in corn, beans, sesame... most when these crops have not been harvested. When catching them, use a net or trap, catch them early in the morning or late in the afternoon, and at most, you can only get 1kg of live beetles per day."

To reduce labor and exploit more, there are specialized teams of insect hunters. In addition to manual catching with nets and traps, many people use yeast and specialized drugs to lure insects.

Up to now, there has been no recommendation that hunting insects affects crops, flowers or ecological imbalance because most of these are harmful insects, natural enemies. However, there have been many cases of people being burned while hunting due to insect poison. And if insects are hunted in an exterminate manner, it will certainly have a negative impact on the ecological environment, especially the use of enzymes and drugs to lure insects.

Therefore, when hunting insects, people need to equip themselves with protective gear; at the same time, do not destroy insects for immediate benefits, nor breed them, as this will cause future disasters.

On the other hand, we also need to be alert because in previous years, Chinese traders used to buy many types of agricultural products such as young areca nuts, pepper roots, dragon fruit buds... or leeches, golden apple snails at high prices. Then, they suddenly stopped buying, causing many people to be miserable. "Actually, we only buy from the people and then sell them back to them. We only know that they buy them to make raw materials to make medicines. When they place orders, we collect the people's goods, resell them, and make a profit from the price difference," Mr. Hao added.