Raising “billion-dollar birds” without ever being fed, a Long An person in Dong Thap Muoi area makes money

Ms. Minh Thi calculates that her bird’s nest house with a floor area of ​​340m2 “comes out of” the 7ha field her husband is plowing.

Raising bird’s nest eats and drinks from experience

We went to see the new bird’s nest farming area in Hiep Thanh hamlet (Tan Binh commune) on a hot sunny afternoon. Ms. Minh Thi, Head of Hiep Thanh hamlet, also a bird’s nest farmer, sat next to us and said that this hamlet that has been growing rice for generations has recently “set up” to build a house to raise bird’s nest. Currently, the whole hamlet has 3 bird’s nest farms, of which Ms. Minh Thi’s bird’s nest farm is the largest.

Ms. Minh Thi said that in mid-2022, taking advantage of the opportunity for the house to be rebuilt, Ms. Minh Thi built an additional bird house at the back with 2 floors, total floor area of ​​340m2, investment capital of 2.5 billion VND. .

“Before deciding to invest in building a bird’s nest house, I went to visit 7 bird’s nest houses near and far. Then I met a bird’s nest house construction company to ask for advice on the bird’s nest farming terrain, design techniques, and house structure. Yen; guide; guarantee…”, Ms. Minh Thi confided.

Ms. Minh Thi said that raising bird’s nest is not difficult. Only check the bird’s nest house once a month to clear the pipes (ventilation holes) to keep the bird’s nest house cool.

During the hot season, bird nest farmers have to make the pipes longer, and during the cold season, they close the pipe holes. Besides, keep snakes, mice, and ants out of the house to raise bird’s nest, to avoid scaring the bird away. Of course, don’t worry about feeding the bird’s nest, because they search for food in the wild before returning to their nest.

Ms. Minh Thi added that during the year February, July and November are the months when birds hatch their chicks. During these months, bird nest farmers are not allowed to harvest nests to multiply bird nests. The other months are the time to collect bird’s nests.

According to Ms. Minh Thi, the “alum dragon” land of Tan Thanh district is quite suitable for raising bird nests because of the cool weather and rich and abundant food.

For example, the bird’s nest house of Ms. Minh Thi, owner of the bird’s nest house design company, said that it usually takes about 2 years from the date of construction for the bird’s nest house to return. But in reality, in just about a year, Ms. Minh Thi saw bird nests in the bird house. Currently, the total number of bird nests is increasing quite well.

“Raising bird’s nest is easy, but it takes experience to be successful. If you enter a house to raise bird’s nest and feel cool, the bird will be able to stay and not leave,” Ms. Minh Thi shared.

Raising bird nests in Dong Thap Muoi “cannibalizes” rice cultivation

Cherishing the bird’s nest placed in a pretty box, Ms. Minh Thi confided that raising bird’s nest earns much more income than growing rice.

Currently, Ms. Minh Thi’s bird’s nest farm produces 300-500g of bird’s nest/month. With this output, she does not have enough bird’s nest to sell to local people. To meet market demand, Ms. Minh Thi has to buy more bird’s nests from other bird’s nest farmers.

Currently, the price of raw bird’s nest that Minh Thi sells to traders is 1.8 million VND/100g, while for local people it is 1.7 million VND/100g.

According to Ms. Minh Thi, with this momentum of bird’s nest farming development, she will invest in building new bird’s nest farming houses.

“Farming is all about taking the short and long term, and building a house to raise bird’s nest is for economic development. Growing fruit trees and vegetables sometimes has unstable and unstable prices, but the price of bird’s nest is good and quite stable.” , Ms. Minh Thi confided.

Bird’s nest farming in Tan Thanh district (Long An province) is in need of support from the government and functional agencies for sustainable development. Photo: T.D

Ms. Minh Thi recommends that the government and functional agencies consider and support qualified people to raise bird’s nest, create conditions for bird’s nest farmers to participate in the OCOP Program, build brands,… for good economic development. than.

According to Tan Thanh District People’s Committee, there is currently a total number of bird’s nest farms in the district (as of October 1, 2023) is 149 houses. Of these, there are 118 houses for raising bird’s nests and 31 houses for converting functions (both for living and raising bird’s nest).

Besides us, the total number of facility owners and households with houses to raise bird’s nest or houses converted to bird’s nest farming is 110 households and establishments. Among them, there are 2 establishments: Tri Son Bird’s Nest and Minh Triet Bird’s Nest.