The Power of Entrepreneurship: From $500 to $200,000 in Annual Profits

At just 29 years old, Bui Hoang Hong Thai from Tan Thanh commune, Cai Be district, Tien Giang province, has achieved notable success in his six-year journey of black snail farming, earning an impressive annual profit of up to VND 400 million.

Thai’s foray into this venture began serendipitously when he visited a black snail farming model in Can Tho. Recognizing the suitability of his hometown’s climate and soil for snail farming, he embarked on his entrepreneurial dream.

Initially, Thai was working as a driver. After careful consideration and research, he decided to take the plunge into black snail farming. “In 2018, with support from the Tan Thanh Commune Youth Union in the form of a VND 10 million grant, I boldly renovated my pond and purchased 8,000 snail seedlings. All of these snails were raised in the ponds within my family’s durian garden,” he shared.

Starting with just VND 10 million, Thai now earns hundreds of millions of dong annually from black snail farming.

In the beginning, Thai faced challenges due to his lack of experience in snail care, inadequate water treatment, and attacks from rodents and birds. These issues resulted in significant losses. However, with perseverance and a willingness to learn from practical experiences, he overcame these hurdles and improved his snail farming techniques.

In 2020, two years after starting, he decided to expand his model to eight ponds, renting additional land with a total area of 15,000 square meters to supply commercial and seed snails to the market.

He sells a kilogram of snail eggs for VND 700,000.

To ensure the snails’ healthy development, Thai focuses on water treatment, maintaining the pond water’s pH between 6.5 and 7.5 and regularly changing the water to create a natural environment for the snails. The farming cycle takes about 4.5 months from seedling release to harvest for meat snails, and an additional 1.5 to 2 months if raising snails for reproduction.

Currently, he has five ponds for meat snails and three for reproductive snails. Each day, he harvests snail eggs and incubates them for about 13 days, achieving a hatch rate of 90-95%. Afterward, he continues to nurture the baby snails in tanks for about 14 days before selling them as seedlings.

The seed snails are currently sold at VND 250 per snail.

“In the ponds, I also release water hyacinths, seaweed, moss, and some aquatic plants to cool the water and provide shelter and food for the snails. Additionally, I organically grow 100 guava trees in my garden to provide ripe fruit for the snails to eat,” Thai shared.

Thai’s black snail farming model has not only generated significant income but has also established a reputation for quality. He sells snail seedlings for VND 250 each, snail eggs for VND 700,000 per kilogram, and meat snails for VND 35,000-60,000 per kilogram. His primary market is in the Mekong Delta provinces and Ho Chi Minh City.

Thanks to this successful model, Thai earns a profit of over VND 400 million annually. He also plans to lease more land to expand his snail farming operations further, meeting the growing market demand.