As salamander, a kind of reptile living at sandy beach habitat, has become a specialty at many restaurants and is facing a threat of extinction, salamander breeding thrives. This way of livings started in provinces of Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan, where there are vast sandy dunes – the most favourable habitat for the amphibians. Then, it expanded to Phu Yen province and now to Binh Dinh province.
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Mr. Nguyen Quang Ba stands next to his salamander breeding facility
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* Easy farming, rich earning
Mr. Trinh Van Tot at sub-ward 2, Genh Rang ward, Quy Nhon city is probably one the pioneers in salamander breeding in Quy Nhon. 3 years ago, he started to teach himself about the salamander breeding technology and decided to invest in the undertaking. In order to domesticate the animal to artificial habitat of heavy earth, he built brick walls around a cage and covered the ground with sand. After 3 years of breeding the salamanders, he could sell out over 10 kilos and intended to expand the breeding facility. His domesticated salamanders were introduced as a kind of product of Quy Nhon City Farmer Association at a Quy Nhon – based fair in August 2010.
“The salamander is easy to breed and rarely catches a disease. Its food is highly available. The breeding doesn’t cost much and yield high profit”, said Mr. Tot. The salamanders eat vegetables like mustard greens, spinach, cabbage, pumpkin, etc. It costs him under 10.000 VND each day for the animal food and 8 million VND for the first investment. The salamanders don’t need to eat in rainy season and stay in their holes during the time. So, Mr. Tot just feeds them during 6 months of dry season. The animals eat their own tails to keep their existence. The salamander breeders should feed them up before bring out to the market.
Some residents at Genh Rang ward started to follow Mr. Tot and the recent breeder was Mr. Nguyen Quang Ba at sub-ward 3. He and other farmer were supported by Quy Nhon City Farmer Association with cost for breeding animals and food to perform a pilot model of salamander breeding. The model was expected to duplicate in other areas later. Mr. Ba opened a 2000-square-metre farm at Quy Hoa Pass to keep 600 breeding salamanders. So far, they have laid their first batch of eggs.
To residents at Nhon Ly ward, the salamander breeding is much easier. They don’t need to buy sand because sand is available everywhere. They just dig out 1.2-metre deep ditches; erecting brick walls and canvas to prevent the animal flee. That’s all.
“It’s unable to practice aquatic farming at Nhon Ly beach because of its unfavourable conditions while the fishery is becoming more difficult. So, the local residents must find way to take advantages of the local sand beach to earn their livings”, explained Mr. Nguyen Xuan Tho, Chairman of the local fisher association.
Nhon Ly now has 4 family-scale salamander breeders. Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh, son of the chairman, is going to sell out the first batch of salamander. “I am going sell out 60-70 kilos of salamanders to traders from Phu Yen province and expect to gain 25 million VND in profit at the selling price of 400.000 VND/kg. In comparison to the 11-million-VND capital investment and the cost of breeding over nearly 1 year, the profit is high”, said Mr. Thanh.
At Ly Hung hamlet, Mr. Nguyen Kim Tai hires a 1,000-square-metre ground to establish a breeding facility. He is going to breed the first batch of the animal in the coming dry season. Other residents, Mr. Dang Tien Hoang and Mr. Ha Thanh Binh, also build up breeding facilities over hundreds of metres. One buys breeding animals from Phu Yen. The other buys from Ninh Thuan. Mr. Hoang starts to sell his own breeding animals now.
* There should be a guiding policy
The salamander breeders in Quy Nhon mainly learn experiences and know-how from their counterparts in Phu Yen and other suppliers of breeding animals.
The salamanders lay eggs twice a year; 5-7 eggs/batch; all of the newly born salamanders survive and contract no disease. The salamander breeding isn’t labour-consuming. The breeders just feed the animals once a day. Each year, they harvest 2 batches of products. Each batch is 2-3 times the number of salamanders in the very first breeding batch. With the prices at 400.000 -450.000 VND/kg of salamanders (breeding animals and meat), the breeders may hope to raise their incomes through the salamander breeding.
Yet, many of them are still uncertainty about markets. Phu Yen traders provide breeding animals and buy up the salamanders. The breeders in Quy Nhon don’t know where the products go except the fact that the salamander meat is enjoying large custom. The prices would probably fall down if supply exceeds need as so many people spontaneously breed salamanders without knowing exactly about the markets. In addition, whether or not there will be large scale epidemic among the salamander herds? The breeders should do thorough study, get specific information and make plans for their job of breeding the salamanders.
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