Lâm Đồng Potential sturgeon farming in Đam Rông

Sturgeon farming has been emerging in Đam Rông as it brings much higher profit than others in the district. The first bumper crop of sturgeon has paved a new way for cold-water aquaculture for local residents.

The location of Rô Men may facilitate sturgeon farming, especially Village 1 and Village 2 where the upper stream of Nước Mát is flowing through. Cool weather and fresh water here are favorable conditions for sturgeon to grow up. There are two companies and four households in these two villages practicing sturgeon, with one thousand to tens of thousands of fries being stocked each. One company is specializing in hatchery to provide fries to other provinces. Some farmers earn high profit from selling commercial sturgeons.

Vũ Văn Hưng’s sturgeons are of the first crops in village 2, Rô Men commune. He struggled with large scale pig farm but earned low profit. A year ago, because prices of pig slumped while feed was expensive, he left nearly 300m2 farm empty. He thought about rearing sturgeon when a company started its own sturgeon hatchery in the village in 2018. After studying and learning experiences from other farmers, he turned 300m2 pig farm into a sturgeon pond. He spent more 100 million dong on installing water system to bring water from the nearby stream to the pond. He cleaned, sterilized and prepared his pond for stocking 3,000 three-month-old- sturgeon fries which were sold at 28,000 dong each.

“We find it easy to rear sturgeon because we have natural pure water from the nearby stream, and temperature here is suitable for sturgeon to grow up”, says Hưng. He pays special attention to clean water and uses industrial feed which is about 32 thousand dong/kg. Each sturgeon eats total 3-3.5 kg bran to weigh up 1.8-2kg each within ten months, from stocking to harvest. The bigger a sturgeon gets the higher price it is sold, contrary to pigs. Traders come to his farm to buy sturgeons at market price which is now 170-180 thousand dong per kilogram now. It is higher in the run-up to Tet Holiday but still in short supply. The partial harvest took place after ten months of stocking with 100 two-kilogram-sturgeons being sold. He says each sturgeon may bring him 120-140 thousand dong profit. If he sells the whole pond, he will earn at least 100 million dong.

Head of Agriculture and Rural Development Office of district Nguyễn Văn Chính says sturgeon is new to local farmers. A cooperative of sturgeon has been founded in Rô Men recently. The Office sends officers to instruct farmers to take care of sturgeons, prevent them from diseases, and offer some loan capital to sturgeon farmers.

Vice Chairman of Rô Men People’s Committee Đào Bá Trực says: “Local authority is working with relevant sectors to help farmers with farming techniques and quality improvement, as well as introduce them the cooperative where farming is organized, fry quality is managed and output products are taken care”.