Closed clean frog farming from pond to table

Ms. Phuong has created her own brand in the market by raising frogs according to a circular production system.

Ms. Phuong studied animal husbandry at Can Tho University. After graduating, she had a stable job when she was assigned to be in charge of pangasius farming techniques at a seafood company. But her passion for getting rich on her homeland urged her to change direction, put her university degree aside and return to her hometown to start a business with a frog farming model in 2012. “After a few years of working, I decided to return to my hometown to start a business with frogs because I found it suitable for my family's existing garden and pond conditions. Because frogs have a short growth period, the investment capital is not large, at that time there were few people raising them on a large scale, and the market was attractive,” Ms. Phuong said.

At first, due to lack of experience, she encountered many failures and had to change many farming models: from raising in tanks on the shore, silver tanks, half shore and half pond, etc. And finally, bringing frogs down to raise in cages in fish ponds brought the most efficiency. On the other hand, she had to "conquer" the price and the habit of eating farmed frogs of the people. But when many people chose to raise frogs, the price depended too much on traders. So she chose to raise clean frogs according to a circular production system.

With the desire to increase the value of frogs so as not to depend too much on traders, she decided to create her own brand. From there, she achieved stable prices, to develop the model in a long-term, sustainable direction. To do this, she raised frogs according to 2 clean frog farming methods in a circular production system: circular in buying and selling and circular in production. Regarding economic circularity, Ms. Phuong takes care of all 4 stages, from selling breeds, farmers, traders, and processors to create her own brand and sell quality products to the market. Regarding production circularity, she raised frogs in cages, and in ponds, she raised them together with pangasius, using frog manure and skin to feed the fish, helping to prevent pollution in the farming environment; she also raised tilapia to "clean" the frog cages, making them clean and airy; the water in the pond was used to irrigate fruit trees, providing more organic matter and nutrients for the plants. “According to the traditional production method, there are 4 separate stages: the seller, the breeder, the trader, and the processor. But I myself do all 4 closed stages to create my own brand and increase the value of the product,” Ms. Phuong shared. With her method of raising frogs in the above circular production system, she has created clean, high-quality frog products that are popular with consumers.

Currently, Ms. Phuong has 2 ponds, one pond is about 3,000m2 and the other pond is 1,500m2. They are raised at a low density. The breeding time is 2.5-3.5 months for sale. However, Ms. Phuong raises them in a rotational manner, so she always has frogs to sell every day.

Ms. Phuong minimizes the use of antibiotics for frogs raised by her. If there are any "weather changes", she mainly uses traditional medicine that she has learned and summarized to treat and supplement nutrients. "In addition to choosing healthy frog breeds, I grow Vietnamese coriander and water spinach in the frog pond, and put water hyacinth in a corner of the pond to clean the water. I use supplements such as garlic soaked in honey and herbal liver detoxifiers to minimize diseases and help frogs grow well. Thanks to that, I create clean products and tastier meat," Ms. Phuong revealed.

Clean frog products are vacuum-packed and sold on the market.

Thanks to the clean frog farming method following the circular production direction, it creates clean frog products, delicious quality, low cost, competitive ability and accepted by consumers. "Although frogs raised according to this model take longer to harvest, the food is also more expensive by 50,000-60,000 VND/bag. In return, I get delicious, clean frog meat," Ms. Phuong said excitedly.

After many years of successfully raising clean commercial frogs, Ms. Phuong has boldly invested in machinery and equipment to process frogs, package them and sell them on the market. From this product, she registered to compete and achieved a 3-star OCOP rank at the provincial level in 2021. Currently, Ms. Phuong sells 2-3 tons of commercial frogs each month, fresh, cleaned frogs packaged, vacuum-sealed, and labeled from 300-500 kg/month. In addition, she also sells 10,000-15,000 frog fry/month; she also sells tra fish and perch. Thanks to that, she always has a stable monthly income.

Article and photos: NGUYEN TRINH

Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/nuoi-ech-sach-khep-kin-tu-ao-nuoi-den-ban-an-a187808.html