QUANG NAM – Leaving town to return to his hometown to start a business, Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh borrowed 700 million VND to invest in worm farming and after nearly two years, he had the income to repay.
On the weekend, Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh, 32 years old, in Tien Canh commune (Tien Phuoc district) still got up early, as usual, went to the family farm to check each rectangular plot of earthworm farming.
Using his hand to lightly scratch the layer of wet soil to raise worms, he said, “If the soil is dry, the worms will grow slowly, so I have to check often, water to create moisture”.
In 2011, Mr. Thanh graduated with an electrical engineering degree from a college in Da Nang and moved to Ho Chi Minh City to find a job. Living in a foreign land, he worked as an operator and manager of electricity for a company with an income of 8 to 10 million VND per month. The salary is enough to cover the minimum living, he also saves and sends 2-3 million dong to help his family in the countryside.
After three years, Thanh felt unsuitable for urban life, so he decided to return to his hometown to set up a career. Initially, he invested in a seedling nursery but it was not effective, so he switched to raising rabbits to take advantage of the available food around his garden.
At the beginning of 2020, when rabbits began to come out of the cage and sell to traders, the Covid-19 epidemic broke out. With nearly 1,000 rabbits without buyers, Mr. Thanh had to find all ways to sell off to salvage capital, losing more than 100 million VND. Bankruptcy, he is under great pressure because now not only his parents are old but also his own family, wife, and small children.
In the process of raising rabbits, Mr. Thanh uses earthworms in the barn to help reduce environmental pollution from rabbit droppings. Realizing that there is great market demand, while there are no households in the area following this profession, he went online to learn more about worm farming models and took the time to visit some places.
“My hometown is an agricultural area, so the source of food for worms such as cattle manure and agricultural waste is a lot,” Thanh said, adding that the earthworms are used as feed for shrimp, fish, eels, frogs, and turtles. … In addition, farms can also sell wormseed, green fertilizer.
He decided to borrow 700 million dongs, renovate a hectare of his garden into a worm farm. The top is covered with a corrugated iron roof, the bottom is built into cells 30 cm high, about 1.5 m wide, and 3 m long. Wormseed bought and released at the rate of 25 kg per 1m2. After 40 days, each farming plot collects more than 3 kg of meat worms, the next 7-day cycle collects 5 kg; vermicompost is harvested every three months.
The first batches of worms he brought to households raising shrimp, fish, eel … offered, and then put on social networks to introduce. Initially, the consumption was slow, but over time, the fish and shrimp farming households found that the earthworm products of Mr. Thanh’s farm were of good quality, and contacted him to offer a large quantity.
On average, his farm collects more than 400 kg of worms every month; in which worm seed sells for 20,000 VND per kg; meat worms 60,000 VND per kg. In addition, the worms are also fermented to form a solution as feed for newly hatched shrimp and fish at the price of 100,000 VND per liter; Worm manure is collected every month 20 tons, pellets are over 20,000 VND per kg, and loose powder form is 4,000 VND per kg.
Worm seeds are supplied by Thanh to the Central and Central Highlands markets, while vermicompost is sold to cooperatives producing clean vegetables and fertilizer shops. “Except for expenses, I earn an average of 40 million dongs per month, hire three workers to pay more than 4 million dongs each,” Thanh said, adding that the 700 million dongs borrowed to invest so far has been paid off. more than 500 million.
Recently, he established Dat Quang organic agricultural cooperative to expand the farm size and link with other members to form a chain of production and consumption.
According to the leader of Tien Canh commune, “Mr. Thanh is an example of overcoming difficulties, daring to think and dare to do things in the locality”. “The precious thing about this young man is that he is willing to share his experience with those who need to develop the earthworm profession,” said Mr. Le Truong Hien, Chairman of the commune. Follow (vnexpress)