An engineer from Lam Dong gave up his salary of 30 million/month to do agriculture.

Mr. Le Ngoc Thong, Hiep Thanh commune, Lam Dong province recently inspected the livestock barns in his circular agricultural farm.

Quitting a high-paying job, many people dream of doing farming.

Following Mr. Tran The Quang, an official of the Farmers' Association of Lam Dong province, we arrived at the farm of Mr. Le Ngoc Thong (49 years old) in Hiep Thanh commune, Lam Dong province (Hiep Thanh commune was formed on the basis of merging Hiep An, Lien Hiep, Hiep Hanh communes of Duc Trong district, old Lam Dong province).

This is a circular agricultural production farm that is highly appreciated by local authorities and is an inevitable trend.

When we arrived, Mr. Le Ngoc Thong and his workers were still preparing food for earthworms, chickens and pigs in a farm of more than 1 hectare. The farm is systematically planned with areas for raising earthworms, chickens, pigs and black soldier flies.

Taking off his plastic boots, Mr. Thong invited the reporter into the house right on the farm. Mr. Thong said that in 2002, he graduated with a degree in animal husbandry engineering from the University of Agriculture and Forestry, Hue University.

After graduating, Mr. Thong worked for a large corporation operating in the field of livestock and poultry farming. This corporation is based in Lam Dong province.

Mr. Thong (left) introduces black soldier fly eggs being bred on his farm to officials of the Lam Dong Farmers' Association.

Close-up of black soldier fly eggs being raised on Mr. Thong's farm.

“After working for more than 20 years, the corporation paid me a salary of about 30 million VND/month. This is a relatively high salary, many people dream of. However, I have always cherished the dream of building my own circular agricultural farm to manage myself.

Therefore, in early 2024, I decided to quit my job at the company and return to build a farm in Hiep Thanh commune. At the farm, I built and planned separate areas to raise chickens, pigs, earthworms and black soldier flies.

These are the animals that are the basis for me to implement a circular agriculture model, minimizing input costs in production," Mr. Le Ngoc Thong shared.

Then Mr. Thong invited reporters to visit each livestock area on his farm.

As Mr. Thong said, circular agriculture is gradually emerging with each item on the farm with earthworms, black soldier fly larvae, hybrid wild boar...

Earn hundreds of millions of VND/month from circular agriculture

Showing earthworms being raised on his farm to reporters, Mr. Thong said earthworms and black soldier flies are a nutritious food source for livestock and poultry.

These two types also contribute to the processing of agricultural by-products such as cabbage, bananas, and onions that are discarded locally.

Mr. Thong said: “Initially, I invested about 400 million VND to build the farm to ensure it could be “circulated”. First, I raised black soldier flies, then I raised earthworms to ensure enough food for other animals such as chickens and pigs.

Onions are used for composting and raising earthworms.

Initially, I researched on social networks and bought 300 grams of black soldier fly eggs for 1.2 million VND. After that, from that source of eggs, I raised and became self-sufficient in the source of this type of fly. Accordingly, the life cycle of black soldier flies will last from 35 to 45 days. During this time, black soldier flies will go through many stages such as: eggs, larvae (also known as calcium worms), pupae, cocoons and adult flies.

The 7X agricultural engineer added that from 300 grams of black soldier fly eggs, he harvested 70 kg of calcium worms and 4 grams of eggs. Currently, on his farm, Mr. Thong harvests nearly 10 tons of calcium worms, 4 kg of black soldier fly eggs and 1.6 tons of earthworms each month. Black soldier fly eggs are sold for 3.5-4 million VND/kg, earthworms are priced at 80,000 VND/kg.

Earthworms are raised in cement tanks on Mr. Thong's farm.

Black soldier fly larvae are developing to serve Mr. Thong's circular agriculture model.

“I am currently breeding earthworms so that I can bring a large number of chickens to raise on my farm in the near future. I am following the direction of raising organic chickens and ducks, so I will take earthworms and ground calcium worms, mix them with beer lees and rice bran to make my own bran.

This will help minimize input costs while ensuring the quality of bran, reaching 90% compared to industrial bran sold on the market. After about a year, I am still continuing to perfect the process to ensure circulation in the future," Mr. Thong shared.

In addition to circular agriculture, Mr. Thong also cooperates with a company in Lam Dong to raise 2,000 pigs and 30,000 commercial chickens. The total monthly income from the farm and the livestock association, Mr. Thong earns nearly 100 million VND per month.

Hybrid wild boars are fed bran made from earthworms and calcium worms so they grow very quickly.

Talking about Mr. Thong's farm, Mr. Tran The Quang said that Lam Dong is a locality with very strong agricultural development.

Therefore, agricultural by-products are also very large, if not utilized, it will be a waste.

Mr. Thong has used agricultural waste and by-products to raise black soldier flies and earthworms for poultry and livestock farming, which has high economic value, saves input costs, and brings high economic efficiency.

“Because of their economic efficiency and environmental protection, comprehensive and circular models like Mr. Thong’s are always of interest, supported and encouraged by local authorities. The Farmers’ Association also strengthens propaganda and encourages farmers to apply similar effective models to Mr. Thong’s,” said Mr. Quang.

Source: https://baolamdong.vn/mot-ky-su-lam-dong-bo-luong-30-trieu-thang-ve-lam-nong-nghiep-384555.html