Sweeping all the gold to buy four-legged crabs, the old farmer in the West collected hundreds of millions

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Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh, 58 years old, living in Phu Thu ward (Cai Rang district, Can Tho city) used to work hard to raise pigs but the price was precarious, all at a loss.

More than 10 years ago, watching an agricultural extension program on a TV station introduced the model of raising Dinh crabs (also known as Nam Bo). This animal is raised by many farmers in the West because it gives a high income.

Initially, Mr. Thanh sought to learn from the model as far back as Hau Giang, where the movement was located crab farming very strong. Seeing that the soil conditions were no different from Can Tho, he decided to discuss with his wife that he would sell the gold he had saved for many years to build a barn and buy crabs to raise.

“Back then, I sold an amount of gold for 35 million dong, bought 100 fingerling crabs to raise, but in a short time they all died. I sold another amount of gold to buy farmed crabs, but they all died. I was so bored, I was about to stop raising it, but my wife said that I had built a barn, and now I’m going to lose my capital. I clicked my stomach to spend another 50 million to buy 50 large fingernail crabs, each weighing about 700 grams,” said Mr. Thanh.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh in the city. Can Tho succeeds with crab farming model

After 5 years of rearing, nail crabs begin to lay eggs

The male nail crab weighs more than 25kg

After 5 years, Mr. Thanh’s 50 crabs gradually died and only 10 were left. “People say that crabs raised for 3 years will lay eggs, but I raised them for 5 years and they still haven’t laid, so I think I have failed. Suddenly, on the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, about 5 years ago, the herd of crabs laid the first 4 eggs, and my husband and I were “overjoyed”. After that, nail crabs lay eggs continuously until now”, Mr. Thanh said.

At first, due to inexperience, nail crab lays few eggs, hatching rate is not high. “Vocational occupation”, Mr. Thanh takes care of properly so the crabs lay eggs gradually. Currently, he hatches thousands of baby crabs. The price of one-week-old crabs is 350,000 VND/head, meat crabs are from 400,000-500,000 VND/kg, more expensive than fresh shrimp.

Dinh crab farming tank was designed by Mr. Thanh with cement, with an area of ​​2-3m2, the density of rearing 4 females, 1 male per tank. The top is covered with mesh to create shade and reduce ambient temperature.

“Planting a net above the tank is important because crabs are susceptible to heat shock. It is too hot, they are slow to grow, easy to get diseases. In addition, I also have to regularly change the water for the crabs,” said Mr. Thanh.

Mr. Thanh raises crabs in a cement tank with a net on top

In each tank, he released 4 female and 1 male crabs

Thanks to raising crabs, Mr. Thanh earns hundreds of millions of dollars a year

According to this farmer, the crab’s food is pureed fresh fish. “Every day, give the crabs a meal in the late afternoon. When the weather is cold, feed the crabs less.”

According to him, crabs eat quite little. With a total herd of about 700 crabs, each day, he only costs about 200,000 VND for food. Although eating less, nail crabs grow quite quickly. The 10 parent crabs raised by Mr. Thanh from the beginning until now have weighed about 25kg.

Mr. Thanh revealed that nail crabs must be raised for 5 years or more to reproduce. The breeding season of crabs is from December to July of the lunar calendar.

“Naked crabs lay eggs in sand pits. Each female lays from 9 -17 eggs/time. I collected crab eggs and brought them to an artificial incubator for about 90 days, then they hatched, the rate was about 80%”, Mr. Thanh said.

Crab has a large weight and high price, so every year Mr. Thanh sells to the market about 700 seed crabs and 200-300 meat crabs, earning more than 500 million VND.

Goodwill