In 2020, Hà Tĩnh Agriculture Extension Center implemented a marine crab cultivation model using industrial feed and brought in positive results.
In a nearly one-hectare farm, Phạm Thị Oanh in Sơn Tây village, Kỳ Thọ commune of Kỳ Anh district was selected to implement the intensive crab farming model using industrial feed for this crop by Hà Tĩnh Agriculture Extension Center. This was a black tiger shrimp farm where disease outbreaks used to occur.
After 5 months of stocking 10,000 crabs at a density of 1pc/m2, crabs weighed up to 0.3kg each, survival rate reached 68% and productivity was more than 2 tons/ha. With a selling price of 260,000 dong/kg, one hectare intensive crab cultivation farm can produce 250 million dong profit after production costs. As compared to the extensive farming model, an intensive farm brings about a 40%-50% increase in productivity; moreover, the farming duration lasts 6 months and harvest is carried out before the flood season to prevent possible damages caused by natural disasters.
“Using industrial feed and low commercial value fish in crab farms, we realize that environmental factors such as salinity, pH, and transparency are suitable for crabs to develop. As compared to crabs fully fed by low commercial value fish, farmed crabs fed by industrial feed can remove our worries of looking for feed every day, besides it’s easy to manage and take care of farmed crabs as they weigh up well with high survival rate, resulting in a decline in production costs and higher economic efficiency”.
Hồ Văn Trung, Chairman of Farmers’ Society in Kỳ Thọ commune evaluated that the crab farming model using industrial feed is quite new to local farmers, but produces some good results. Thus, local authority will continue to expand this model.
The technical transfer of intensive farming model using industrial feed as well as the cultivation process will help farmers be proactive with feed sources so that crabs are fed to satiation, feed is qualified, environmental concerns and disease outbreaks are prevented.
VFM
