After a long time facing failure from many animal husbandry and cultivation models, Vo Van Van, a farmer in Thuan An towns Vinh Phu ward has managed to rise up out of poverty thanks to the gourami-breeding model.
Hardship
Van said that he tried to get involved in many animal husbandry and cultivation models, but economic efficiency from them was very low. Like many local farmers households, he changed to other business models and he decided to develop fish-breeding models with high economi efficiency.
In the initial period, he bred many
kinds of fish and faced hurdles because of lacking experience and capital. But,
he was still discouraged. Realizing that few people got involved in breeding
gourami at that time while this kind of fish brought breeders high profit, he
decided to get involved in this animal husbandry model with the hope of rising
up out of poverty. 
Annually, guarami brings Van’s family hundreds of millions of dong
Securing a stable life with gourami
Since 2002, Van has got involved in the gourami-breeding model with four small ponds of around more than 2,000 sq.m in total. Each pond includes around 2,000 breeding fish. In addition to gourami, he has also bred some other kinds of fish, including cat fish, in order to making hygiene for his fish ponds.
Van was also very enthusistic when sharing his experience to breed guarami. According to him, guarami brings breeders more stable income than other many kinds of fish. Main feed for guarami are green vegetables and water-fern. Guarami will be normally harvested after two-year breeding.
On average, his family harvests around 2 tons of guarami from each fish pond every year, securing around VND100mln in profit. Thus, with the current four fish ponds, his family can earn VND400mln every year. The figure is seen as a dream for him and other farmers.
Luu Van Nhan, Chairman of Vinh Phu ward’s Farmers’Society said that the whole ward only has 19 guarami-breeding households with 11,300 sq.m in total. According to statistics, the number of guarami-breeding households has decreased considerably compared to the previous year, due to polluted water source. Hence, he and the local fish breeders wanted that the local functional agencies will take measures to ensure a clean source of water for fish breeding herein.
Reported by Yen Dinh-Translated by K.T
