(VOVworld) – Le Trong Khanh is head of Huong Son cooperative in Song Ma border district in Son La province. He has pioneered and succeeded in raising trionychid turtles, which has generated many jobs for local farmers. Vang Thi Lan reports:

We visited Khanh’s farm during the spawning season. Khanh was busy at the incubators like a real farmer. He started to raise trionychid turtles in 2006. He faced many difficulties in the beginning because of a lack of experience and market fluctuations. Khanh said: “The turtles died often in the beginning. When the District People’s Committee invited fishery workers and a teacher from the University of Agriculture for a training course here, I invited them to visit my farm. They gave me some advice, which helped to minimize my losses.”

Khanh is raising trionychid turtles on 4000 square meters. He has invested approximately 50,000 USD in this business, which earned him 15,000 USD last year. Compared to other fishery species or plants, trionychid turtles bring in higher income but require more funding and techniques.

Khanh has been helping others to raise trionychid turtles. In 2012, with state support he persuaded 15 other farmers to form the Huong Son cooperative. Khanh said: “Cooperative members help one another in production techniques. Each member contributes some money to a sickness fund. Whenever a member has a technical problem, we all sit down to discuss it.”

The cooperative now has 5 hectares for raising different fishery species but mainly trionychid turtles. As a legal entity, the cooperative has made purchasing easier. Member Ha Dinh He said: “Our success is due to Khanh’s technical advances. As cooperative head, he has been helping others both in production and in everyday life.”

Most of the cooperative’s products used to be shipped to China. Now they are available across Vietnam.