The bamboo rats farming model expands in Nhan River

​(News Portal – Dong Nai) - In the past few years, the bamboo rat farming model in Song Nhan commune (Cam My district) has been expanding rapidly, helping many families make ends meet. The Party Committee, government and local Farmers' Association are currently very interested in this new model and always create conditions for farmers to invest in raising bamboo rats so that together they can have a stable life.  

Mr. Truong Dung's bamboo rat farming model at Hamlet 61, Song Nhan Commune, Cam My District 

​Chose the right startup direction

We visited the farm of Mr. Truong Dung (living in hamlet 61, Song Nhan commune, Cam My district) who had boldly pioneered the new model in the locality and achieved success.

Mr. Dung said that in 2017, he happened to read on the newspaper and knew some people had become well-off thanks to the bamboo rat farming model. He researched and found that this farming model was suitable for the family's conditions because of low initial investment costs, easy techniques, easy to raise and the bamboo rats required little care..., while the products price was always remain at a high level.

After 1 year of preparation, Mr. Dung decided to invest in a bamboo rat farm. He renovated the family's old pig barn to save money. That year, he went to a large-scale bamboo rat farm in Thu Duc City (Ho Chi Minh City) to buy 5 pairs of bamboo rats for 10 million VND and brought them home to raise.

“In the beginning, I didn't have much experience so I couldn't do a good job of building a cage and taking care of the animals, but each time I failed, I learned a lot of valuable lessons. I also participated in bamboo rats raising associations and groups online. Through these forums, I had learned many useful things from those who have done it before me. Thanks to that, I was able to overcome difficulties and limitations to bring the model into operation more and more stably and methodically" - Mr. Dung confided.

After more than 1 year of cultivating, the original 10 animals have matured and mated, giving birth to offspring. Mr. Dung continued to invest in expanding the barn and bought 10 more pairs of breeds to raise. Thanks to his care and proper technical procedures, his family's herd grew healthy and reproduced in increasing numbers. Currently, his bamboo farming model has an area of about 30 m² and is divided into 60 plots with the number sometimes reaching nearly a hundred large and small animals.

“Currently, each month the family sells an average of 10-15 bamboo rats to the market. Commercially, the price of a kilogram of bamboo rat ranges from 850 thousand to 1.4 million VND, sometimes the price even increases from 1.2 to 1.4 million VND/kg. The model has brought a stable source of income for the family of about 200 million VND/year" - Mr. Dung confided.

Replicate effective methods

According to Mr. Dung's experience, the bamboo rat farming model is relatively easy to do, easy to care for and brings high economic efficiency. Furthermore, raising them does not require a lot of space and does not require a lot of effort and time to care for them. In particular, raising bamboo rats is very convenient in the Nhan River area because the food sources for them are abundant in the locality such as bamboo, sugarcane, corn, beans... so farmers can easily find or produce their own feeds to reduce investment costs.

However, farmers must pay attention to keeping the barn well-ventilated, clean, and cool to maximize the development of the bamboo rats and limit the spread of diseases. “The bamboo rat is a species that prefers darkness, limited direct light and noise. Therefore, building a cage also requires choosing a suitable location to create a quiet, cool living habitat for the bamboo rats to grow and develop well" - Mr. Dung shared.

Recently, many people in the area have paid a visit to Mr. Dung's bamboo rat farming model in order to learn about what he did. Mr. Dung does not hide his profession, and he is willing to provide breeding animals and wholeheartedly support and provide bamboo rats raising techniques for households around the area in need to work together and improve their lives.

In 2022, with the approval of the Party Committee and local authorities, the Song Nhan commune bamboo farming cooperative was established with 5 members and Mr. Dung was the leader of the cooperative group. The tasks of the team members were to regularly meet, discuss and share experiences to jointly develop the bamboo rat farming model, and at the same time discuss ways to achieve stable and sustainable product outputs.

Mr. Thai Van Loc, Chairman of Song Nhan Commune Farmers' Association commented that Mr. Truong Dung's bamboo farming model was very practical and brings high economic efficiency, especially since the model did not pollute the environment. Therefore, with the consent of the Party Committee and authorities, Song Nhan Commune Farmers' Association had replicated the model by established a bamboo farming cooperative in 2022 to create conditions for people in the area to participate in this new model. Currently, the model has many prospects for development. ​