Thanh Chuong: Exploiting the potential of fish farming ponds

(Baonghean) - With preferential loans from the aquaculture project supported by the District Women's Union, many households in Dung Town (Thanh Chuong) have exploited the potential of existing ponds and lakes to raise fish, combined with pig herds. The construction of a comprehensive economic model of garden, pond and barn (VAC) has initially proven effective.

The aquaculture development project was implemented by the District Association since July 2013, aiming to encourage local people to strongly develop the aquaculture movement, mainly fish farming to exploit the potential of available ponds and lakes of families, thereby helping them solve employment and increase income. Priority is given to poor and near-poor households and for the capital to be truly effective, there is also a criterion that the borrower must have a water surface area of ​​over 1000m2, be of working age, and combine with farm economic development. The total support capital is 80 million VND, allocated to 10 households to borrow, with an interest rate of 0.65%/year, loan term is 18 months. After surveying and checking the reality, it was found that Dung Town area has a lot of potential ponds and lakes favorable for fish farming, so the District Women's Union decided to support local people to borrow capital to develop the economy.

Fish pond of Ms. Ngu Thi Hoa's family (in grade 6).

Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Diep, President of the Women's Union of the town, said: In order for the loan capital to be effective and reach the right subjects, the first thing to do is to direct the grassroots associations to organize meetings with the people to implement the policy. Next, based on the criteria, a list of households in need of loans was made. Before the disbursement time, district women's officials went to each house to assess, on that basis, 4 associations were selected that were eligible for loan support, which were associations 13, 14, 15 and association 6. Over the implementation period, the general assessment is that the model is promoting good efficiency, every household has a high income from fish farming. In particular, many household owners have become rich from combining pig farming, thereby opening a new direction for economic development in the locality.

We visited the family of Ms. Ngu Thi Hoa, in Block 6, one of the households that effectively utilized the loan capital to build a comprehensive economic model. She happily said that after having more capital, her family invested in buying fish fry to release, mainly grass carp, silver carp, bighead carp, bighead carp and tilapia. Along with that, they built a biogas tank to process livestock waste into a daily food source for the fish. Observing that, the layout of Ms. Hoa's farm is very scientific, on the same garden area, above the bank is a row of pig pens with a total herd of nearly 40 pigs, surrounded by a carefully fenced B40 steel mesh. Not far away is the fish pond area divided into 4 plots, convenient for management and care.

Ms. Hoa added that for the fish to grow well, farming techniques are a very important factor. Firstly, regarding the pond environment, it is necessary to ensure an area of ​​100m2 or more, the best depth is 1-1.5m of water and a mud layer of 15-25cm thick. The pond surface must be airy, the pond bank must not leak and be 0.4-0.5m higher than the water level; there must be a convenient drainage system. The next step is to clean the pond before putting fish in by applying lime to the bottom of the pond to kill harmful pathogens. After 3 days of liming, apply basal fertilizer by spreading 20-30 kg of manure and 50 kg of green manure leaves evenly throughout the pond. Next, take water into the pond to a depth of 0.3-0.4m and soak for 5-7 days, removing all green manure residue. Note that when filtering water into the pond, there must be a net to prevent unwanted fish from entering. Second, when selecting fish for breeding, it is necessary to ensure that the fish are healthy, have complete fins and scales, are bright and even, and are not stunted. Third, the source of green food provided for the fish daily includes grass, banana leaves, cassava leaves, and in addition, rice bran, corn bran, and 10-15 kg of manure should be added weekly. After 5-6 months of breeding, the large fish can be selected and the juvenile fish released to increase productivity.

For Ms. Tran Thi Thuy's household in Block 15, the couple is currently raising fish on the land area auctioned by the Town for a period of 5 years. She said that this area used to be rice land, but was damaged by rats, so the people in the area left it fallow. The house is located next to each other, making it convenient for monitoring and protection, so they applied for a contract to raise fish. Each year, they grow 1 rice crop and 2 fish crops, which also helps them save money to build a new, spacious house like today. "From the initial results, I see that with the current interest rate, farmers can earn more profit because fish are easy to raise and do not require much care. In the future, the family will combine raising pigs to increase income," Ms. Thuy confided.

Currently, many branches in the Town have completed the work of land consolidation and plot exchange, wishing to receive loan support to raise fish as implemented, contributing to getting rich right on their own homeland land.

Van Dang