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Breeding wild fish and giant freshwater prawns in rice fields in the flood season

DONG THAP – “flooded” for many years, residents in the western part of the river found other livelihoods instead of hunting for produce in the floating season.

Breeding wild fish and giant freshwater prawns in rice fields in the flood season
Seasonal rice after three months of sowing is growing well, surpassing the water, and is an ideal habitat for giant freshwater shrimp. Photo: Ngoc Tai

On the last day of September, Mr. Bui Tri Nhan, 27 years old, from Hong Ngu city, Dong Thap province, has been sailing to visit rice fields in combination with giant freshwater prawn farming for three months. The water level is about 7 feet high, the water reaches where the rice goes, with sturdy stems and leaves.

While swimming in a canoe in the rice field, Mr. Nhan just crossed the pond next to it. At the same time as the rice was sown, 300,000 giant freshwater prawns were also stocked. After three months, the baby is as big as the thumb, about 10%. A few days ago, they were selected to be released into the rice fields. Before releasing into the field, shrimp need to remove their claws so that they can focus on developing meat. Particularly, the number of small shrimps continues to be raised in ponds.

By the end of November, when the flood water recedes, rice is also flowering. One month after the rice is ripe, the shrimp is also large enough to harvest once. “The reason for choosing crayfish is because they grow very well with rice. When it’s cool, shrimp will go to the field to eat eggs (Artemia, a newly hatched larva), when it’s sunny, they go down to the ditch to shelter and eat algae and algae. around the stubble. This model does not consume food at all”, Mr. Tri Nhan shared.

Mr. Nhan is one of the farmers who are piloting the farming of giant freshwater prawns and reishi in rice fields in the upstream region of the Mekong River. This flood season livelihood project has been implemented by the Economic Department of Hong Ngu city since June on an area of ​​11 hectares with a one-hectare pond used for shrimp seed farming and 10 hectares of rice cultivation.

Working with the model, Mr. Nguyen Van Tuan, 45 years old, said that in the flood season, his family lived by spreading nets and fishing for frogs. In recent years , the flood water has come back less and late , shrimp and fish are increasingly scarce, the catch is just enough to eat. When suggested to do this model he immediately agreed.

To actively store water, when raising fish, Mr. Tuan went to the dike about 1.5 m high around the field. Then, he took advantage of the wastewater from the surrounding pangasius ponds and put it into ponds and fields to create a source of eggs to make food for the fish.

Mr. Tuan’s family caught shrimp in the pond, selected the big one to release through the rice field, which had been sown for 3 months, on September 22. Photo: Ngoc Tai

“5 million fingerlings are released, they grow very quickly without any food costs. After a month, they can be harvested with the selling price of 130,000 VND per kg. The yield is about 1.5 tons,” he said. Tuan said. Subtracting the cost of buying seed 3 dongs per fish, wages and some other expenses, the price of reishi fish is only about 15,000 dong per kg, he earns more than 170 million dong.

Mr. Tuan explained in detail, after harvesting the fish, he will seed rice to prepare to release shrimp. Field owners need to sow seeds about 1.5 months before the flood (the end of June), the growing period lasts six months, which means they will be harvested one month after the flood recedes. When the water comes back, it can be put into the rice fields to a depth of 1.2 m and stored by the dike system.

Mr. Duong Phu Xuan, Head of Economic Department of Hong Ngu city, said that when designing the project, he actively chose the time when the season rice blooms coincide with the fields in the area to reduce damage caused by birds and rats. Participating people will be supported with seeds, techniques, and some other investment costs.

According to Mr. Xuan, instead of the third rice crop, with just one month of raising fish, farmers have made a profit equal to three rice crops. Other sources of income such as rice and shrimp will help people’s income increase 2-3 times. The use of by-products such as fishpond wastewater to create food for shrimp and fish also helps to reduce investment costs and pure nature.

Mr. Le Ha Luan, Secretary of the Hong Ngu City Party Committee, said that the project is in harmony with the surrounding residents’ conditions and generates good income. After evaluating and summarizing the model, the city will proceed to replicate it, so that people are no longer dependent on hunting in the floating season.

According to Mr. Luan, in the near future, the locality will build a Linh fishing village, in which in addition to selling fresh fish, it is necessary to exploit deeply in the direction of added value such as Linh fish sauce, canned reishi, fish sauce… Next season’s rice… When harvesting cotton, use the straw to make straw mushrooms. “Along with farming, it is necessary to step up processing and make use of by-products to increase profits. In addition, this is a pure natural model that needs to focus on branding to have stable output,” said Mr. Luan. speak.

Crayfish after three months of rearing will choose the big one, remove the claws and release it to the rice field. Photo: Ngoc Tai

Dr. Duong Van Ni – an environmental expert, Can Tho University, said that a flood season livelihood project needs to achieve 4 goals, first of all, to create livelihoods for people in the flood season with the least risk.

In addition, when flood water enters the field, it will provide silt to help reduce soil fertility. The third objective is to store water to share the flood risk downstream and to release water in dry conditions. The ultimate goal is to build biodiversity, white fish will breed as food for blackfish, and blackfish will continue to be food for storks. Depending on specific ecological conditions to prioritize which target to choose first.

Dr. Ni emphasized that in order to avoid the flood-season livelihood model “dead early” after the end of funding, it is necessary to design a centralized model because the management if fragmented will be very laborious. At the same time, the model does not allow conflicts with surrounding households.

“It is necessary to develop a strategy for people to adapt slowly, at least 2-3 years so that people can prepare. The model needs to rely on internal resources from the people, not from funding from the people. outside,” said Dr. Ni.

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