Catfish - a species of high economic value, is being successfully cultured by people of Cu Lao Dung District (Soc Trang), opening a new development direction for aquaculture in the Mekong Delta.
Mr. Lam is raising catfish in shrimp ponds.
Beautiful coastal areas
Tilapia, a famous specialty fish in the West, is declining in the wild. Last time, the catfish was often caught in the river and sold at a high price, so not everyone has the opportunity to enjoy. Breeding and rearing catfish not only opens new directions for aquaculture in the Mekong Delta but also makes them a popular food.
According to Mr. Do Van Thua, Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Cu Lao Dung District, the model of raising catfish in the locality was several years ago, because people used breeding fingerlings from domesticated domestic animals and raised them. in the earthen pond. Because the fish grow well and achieve high efficiency, from 2018, the district proposed to coordinate with the Department of Science and Technology of Soc Trang province to implement the topic of raising artificial catfish in soil ponds on an area of 0.6. ha. After 12 months of rearing, the fish has the weight of about 1.2 kg / fish; After deducting expenses, farmers profit 30,000 VND / kg. It is the successful rearing of artificial catfish that has helped many farmers in Cu Lao Dung have more options to diversify their production models.
Mr. Lam Thanh Lam, who lives in An Thanh 3 commune, said that he used to raise black tiger shrimp before switching to vannamei. However, due to shrimp farming for many years, the land was infected, so the efficiency was not high. Beginning in 2018, he began to turn to catfish in artificial varieties on an area of 2,000 m 2 with 4,000 fish varieties. By the time of sale, his catfish averaged about 1.2 to 1.4 kg / fish. “Mullet is easy to raise, highly resistant to diseases. Last time, after deducting the loss of fish raised, I harvested more than 5 tons of fish. With the selling price of 100,000 - 120,000 VND / kg, excluding the costs, I still have an average profit of 30,000 VND / kg "- Mr. Lam shared.
According to Mr. Tran Thanh Nha, in An Thanh 3 commune, the fact shows that the local soil conditions are very suitable for raising catfish. His fish stocks, after 11 months of rearing, also weigh more than 1kg / fish. Traders come to buy the price of 100,000 VND / kg, which costs about 70,000 VND / kg, so the farmers certainly make a profit. And Mr. Nguyen Van Kiet, in An Thanh Nam commune, said that in recent years, he specialized in collecting wild juveniles for domestication and selling them to farmers, but the number of wild fingerlings was getting less and less. Recently, catfish are more popular but increasingly rare in the wild, should he leave 13,000 fingerlings reared in 7,000 m 2 pond. After 1 year, Mr. Kiet harvested about 10 tons of fish, sold for 115,000 VND / kg, after deducting expenses, he made hundreds of millions.
Mr. Lam was very successful when raising cotton fish wipe with artificial seeds.
Development prospects
According to Mr. Lam, about 3 years now, people of An Thanh Nam and An Thanh 3 communes have started to cultivate catfish in earthen ponds. At first, people mainly raised breeds that were caught from the wild. Giant catfish breeds about 700 - 1,000 fish / kg, caught on large rivers, collected by some experienced households for 3,000 VND / fish. After taming from 30-40 days to sell to farmers from 10,000 - 12,000 VND / head comes with free technical advice for farmers. However, due to the limited sources of wild-caught seed, the quantity of fish sold is not much, the successful breeding with artificial seeds has opened up a development prospect for this specialty fish. Mr Lam said: "Compared with other types of seafood from sources catfish rates much higher than expected I will move 8,000 m 2 the remaining water surface is raising vannamei to rearing cotton fish ”.
And Mr. Lam Vu Linh, in An Thanh 3 commune, has a flock of catfish weighing an average of 1.2 kg / head, said that raising catfish in earthen ponds as well as other aquatic species, in the past The rearing process should strictly follow technical procedures as well as pond environment management. In particular, raising artificial catfish grows faster than wild fish. In the process of raising, it should be noted when the weather changes erratically or after changing the water, the fish may reduce appetite or stop eating, thereby understanding the causes for timely treatment.
Cu Lao Dung district currently has 3,089 ha for aquaculture, including more than 1,700 ha for brackish shrimp farming, the remaining area for clam and other aquatic products. In fact, over the past time, it has been shown that catfish is a new species suitable to the local water environment. Do Van Thua said that the catfish is a fish of higher economic value than other catfish. Especially, catfish is a new target species, suitable for brackish and saline water source in Cu Lao Dung. The source of artificial catfish will have many advantages for replication and also gradually replace the source of wild fish at risk of exhaustion, contributing to the conservation of the natural breed of cotton catfish. suitable for water environment with salinity from 1 - 10 ‰. From that result, in early 2019, Cu Lao Dung district continued to implement 3 models of raising catfish with artificial and natural breeds,
“In terms of adapting to climate change, restructuring agriculture towards increasing and sustainable development, in the shrimp farming areas that want to harvest, they can take advantage of the settled ponds or perennial ponds that are infected. disease to feed other aquatic species, especially catfish. However, the difficulty of raising catfish is the high cost of investment, the length of culture period for fish to gain weight of 1.2 kg / fish or more to sell. Meanwhile, the output of mackerel is also not very stable because it is mainly consumed domestically. Therefore, in order to invest and expand, the functional industry and farmers must carefully calculate and find partners to have stable and long-term consumption markets to help the aquaculture develop sustainably ”- Mr. Thua to speak.
