Thanh Hoa (VNS/VNA) - Many households in Thanh Hoa province’smountainous districts have successfully developed caged fish farming onhydroelectric reservoirs.

The caged-fish farming has helped the farmers earn hundreds ofmillions of VND each year and escape from poverty.

One of the households most successfully raising cage fishes inTrung Son Hydro-power reservoir in Quan Hoa district is Nguyen Bien Cuong'sfamily in the Ta Ban ethnic hamlet of Trung Son commune. They now have sevencages raising mainly carp and black lentils with a volume of about four tonnesof fish a year.

Thanks to applying advanced raising techniques, his family earnsabout 160 million VND (8,900 USD) per year.

Cuong said that when starting farming, his family faced manydifficulties due to lacking raising techniques and choosing locations for cageplacement, so in the rainy and flooding season, the cages were often stuck withgarbage in the reservoir and drifted away.

With the assistance of the commune’s agricultural workers andstaff of the Trung Son Hydropower Plant, he moved the cages to a morereasonable position so that the fish grew well and were not affected by weatherfactors, Cuong said.

Now caged fish farming has become his family's main and stableincome source.

Like Cuong’s family, finding the great potential of raising cagedfish in the reservoir, the family of Dinh Cong Chuc in Ta Ban hamlet alsodecided to invest in the farming model.

Instead of using bamboo to make cages, Chuc boldly invested incages with steel frames that are both firm and airy to help fish grow better.

With the advantage of clean water flows and feed such as bran,corn, banana leaves, sugarcane leaves and juvenile fish, fishes cultured inTrung Son Reservoir are highly appreciated for their quality.

As calculated, each household can earn 100 million VND per year onaverage, which helps many escape from poverty.

To help the fish farming households link together and have stableoutput, Trung Son commune established Trung Son Veterans Aquaculture Service Cooperativewith 15 members.

For people in need of investment capital, the commune cooperateswith the Viet Bank for Social Policies in Quan Hoa district to provide a loanof 800 million VND.

At the same time, the district’s Division of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment has organised training courses for the fish raisers on scientificand advanced technical applications, climate change response, techniques ofusing nets to make cages, and care and harvesting techniques.

Pham Van Cuong, Deputy Director of the Trung Son Hydro-PowerCompany, said that the company creates all conditions for people to exploit thewater surface of the reservoir to do caged fish farming and regularly informspeople about the schedule of water discharge and storage as well as warningsduring inter-reservoir operation, helping people to be proactive in the farmingprocess.

Ha Thi Nga, head of the Division of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment, said that the model of caged fish farming in the hydro-powerreservoir is a new direction of agricultural production of the local people inthe mountainous district of Quan Hoa, contributing to hunger eradication andpoverty reduction, and raising the annual income.

Currently, the district has nearly 50 households doing caged fishfarming, with more than 100 cages on the Trung Son Reservoir.

The district plans to attract businesses and individuals to investin breeding speciality fish with high economic values.

Also, the district will develop concentrated aquaculture areas tolimit spontaneous farming, which is difficult to control and pollutes theenvironment.

Meanwhile, dozens of the locals in Dien Lu commune of Ba Thuoc districthave for many years used the water surface of the Ba Thuoc Hydro-Power Plant2’s reservoir to invest in commodity-oriented caged fish farming, therebyopening a new direction in local economic development.

In the commune, there are 74 households engaged in the farmingmodel with hundreds of cages.

To increase productivity, the commune’s agriculture centre hasorganised several training courses providing the farmers with techniques forselecting fingerlings, stocking density, caring procedures and cage cleaning toensure good water quality to help fish grow better and avoid diseases.

The commodity-oriented caged fish farming has become the mainbusiness that brings stable income for hundreds of households in the commune.

Nguyen Van Huy, Chairman of the People’s Committee of Dien Lu commune,said that fish farming in hydropower reservoir is a new production of thepeople in communes around the Ba Thuoc Hydro-power Plant.

In the future, the local authority will establish cooperatives tosupport people to borrow bank loans for expanding production scale, applyingscience and technology to farming, stabilising the output, andwell-implementing safety measures, especially in the rainy season to reducelosses caused by natural disasters, Huy said.

However, replicating the cage farming model still faces manydifficulties, such as investment capital and backward production practicesleading to limitations in applying science and technology.

Therefore, it is necessary to have more attention from allauthority levels and related agencies to create conditions for people tosustainably develop cage fish farming to bring high economic efficiency andcontribute to hunger eradication and poverty reduction.

Ha Thi Lan Huong, Vice President of the Farmers’ Association ofThanh Hoa province, said that at present, the province has a total of 610reservoirs and 11 hydro-power plants.

Irrigation and hydropower works create a large water surface areathat is a favourable condition for the local people to develop aquaculture, Huongsaid.

The commodity fish farming is helping change the agriculturalproduction ad rural economic structure and improve people's living standards,she said./.