Cricket breeding goes hopping in Hanoi
Breeding and selling tons of “meat crickets” and “cricket eggs” are proving quite lucrative for a family in Hanoi.
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Nguyen Thanh Phi, a resident of Tam Trinh Ward, Hoang Mai District, is a wholesale agent who distributes crickets and cricket eggs in the northern region. Crickets are collected by supermarkets and restaurants to sell to customers or make side dishes for beer and alcohol. |
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"This is the cricket species imported from Thailand, since Vietnamese crickets live underground, so we cannot raise them," Phi said. Phi uses an area of 70 square meters on the fourth floor of his house to raise the crickets in cartons. |
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"We started to feed the first crickets in 2004. After a while, our products had a market, and we started earning profit. We expanded the business, with more places to raise the crickets. In my house, we primarily raise the crickets for eggs, since the demand is high in other provinces," said Phi. At first when they were inexperienced, Phi’s family fed the crickets in the buckets, then they moved the crickets to carton boxes and wooden barrels. |
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When each group of crickets hatch, Phi personally selects by hand the more healthy baby crickets to be breeders and the smaller ones are sold as food. |
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| Crickets will die about 10 days after they lay all their eggs. |
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People spend 20-30 minutes per day feeding the crickets. The main food includes vegetables and bran. After raising crickets for 28 days, the insects can be sold for meat. For crickets raised for eggs, the harvest time takes more than 35 days to arrive. |
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Every day, many people from all over the province and even outside visit Phi’s place to learn about cricket breeding. he carefully gives them all the information about cages, food and maintenance during the breeding season. |
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About 600 parent crickets will lay enough eggs to fill a tray every day. Each crate is four square meters, and its floor is layered with leaves. A crate is divided into several "floors" for the crickets to lay eggs. A tray of eggs costs VND300,000 (US$12.8). "Monthly sales of eggs range from VND50 million (US$2,146) to VND100 million (US$4,292)," Phi said. |
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According to Phi, crickets are easy to breed and they adapt well to the local weather. The temperature in the crate is the most favorable at 32 to 37 Celcius degrees. If the temperature is lower, light bulbs need to be installed to make the crickets grow faster. Crickets raised for meat are frozen to distribute to restaurants and supermarkets. |
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Phi’s family also imports and distributes crickets for meat. Every month, Phi's family sells about 7 tons of meat crickets to the domestic market and some foreign markets in the region, like Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and China. |
