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Croc farming industry in Vietnam
grows
By Tran Dinh Thanh Lam
HO CHI MINH CITY - Vietnam is turning to
commercial farming as a way not just of preserving
crocodiles on the verge of extinction, but of propping
up local industry and earning foreign currency.
"We sell an adult crocodile for US$200 to China,
and the demand is increasing," said Nguyen Huu Tho,
owner of the Dang Crocodile Farm. A bigger animal, he
said, weighing 40-50 kilograms, can fetch up to $1,000.
The Dang Crocodile Farm in An Giang province,
120 kilometers southwest of Ho Chi Minh City, got its
certificate last month from the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna
and Flora (CITES). It was thus allowed to sell its
products on the world market after meeting a set of
standards, which include being able to prove genetic
identity that the crocodiles were not captured from the
wild.
The CITES agreement, which regulates the
international trade of threatened species, first came
into force in July 1975. Since that time, breeding
endangered crocodiles has become a lucrative source of
revenue for three of the major exporters of crocodile
products: Thailand, Australia and Papua New Guinea.
Crocodile meat and hide are becoming popular in
parts of Asia, particularly China, which is why Vietnam
is aiming to follow the export trail of some of the
countries in the region. Today, the country has about
300 crocodile farms, with dozens of large farms, each
raising between 2,000 and 3,000 crocodiles. There are
also hundreds of small-scale enterprises raising between
50 and 200 crocodiles each.
Fewer than 10 of
these farms have CITES recognition, and Tho's farm in
Long Xuyen township became the first in its province
this month to export crocodiles to China.
"Raising crocodiles helps increase exports as
well as species protection," said Ho Thi Cuc, a
Hanoi-based herpetologist and the first Vietnamese
expert to call for international assistance in
developing crocodile farming in Vietnam.
Some of
the world's most endangered crocodile species live in
Southeast Asia, including Vietnam. They are threatened
by poachers who can make a handsome profit from selling
their meat and leather, which is also why Vietnam
explored different ways of stemming their decline.
Vietnam has two species of crocodiles - the
salt-water crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) and the
fresh-water Siamese crocodile (C siamensis) -
both of which have been hunted for illegal export to
China, Thailand and other countries. Efforts in recent
years to conserve their numbers have come not just from
non-governmental organizations, but also from some
Mekong Delta nations that make up their habitat.
Officials here hope that commercial farming will
undercut the demand for the illegal export of crocodiles
from the wild.
It was not long ago that farming
these endangered animals was outlawed in Vietnam. But
since the country became a CITES signatory in 1994, the
residents of Ho Chi Minh City have become increasingly
familiar with the idea.
According to a report by
the Ho Chi Minh City Agriculture and Rural Department,
thousands of crocodiles are being raised for their meat
and hide here.
With its waterway network,
arroyos and swamps the Mekong Delta has long been a
natural habitat for these huge reptiles. Keeping a
crocodile in the family pond is thus very popular in
southern parts of the country.
Vietnam's road to
commercial crocodile farming had a slow start, due
mainly to the shortage of species, know-how and
technology. Developments quickened once Ton That Hung, a
reptile expert at Ho Chi Minh City's zoological garden,
mastered the technique for incubating and hatching
crocodile eggs.
But it was not until 1986, when
Roberto Ramos, director of a crocodile farm in Cuba,
donated 100 crocodiles to the city zoo that Hung was
encouraged to set up a commercially viable farm. Hung
had to put his interest on hold because raising
endangered animals for the purposes of trading was
illegal back then without CITES approval.
But
the idea played on his mind. The following year Hung
quit his zoo job and, with the assistance of Ramos,
raised two parent Siamese crocodiles on a
3,000-square-meter farm in Thu Du district, 12km
northwest of Ho Chi Minh City.
Hung's farm grew
steadily over the years and by the end of 2001 he could
boast of having reared almost 2,000 crocodiles in
captivity. Hoa Ca Crocodile Co, as Hung's property is
now called, became the first in Vietnam to be certified
by CITES to export crocodile products.
"An adult
crocodile can produce a 50 percent profit on raising
costs," said Hung.
A crocodile needs to be fed
at least three kilos of food per week, including duck or
chicken eggs, fish and intestines. The food costs less
than VND10,000 (6 cents), and the total costs of rearing
a crocodile over a three-year period is little more than
VND1.5 million ($100).
On the local market, an
infant crocodile sells for VND750,000 and a kilo of
crocodile meat costs around VND300,000.
Vietnam
has banned restaurants from serving exotic animal dishes
and declared the sale of wild animal hides illegal. But
many restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City now offer crocodile
on their menus and their meat is sold legally, because
it is considered to come from reptiles raised in
captivity.
"I like croc meat because it is
slightly higher in protein and much lower in fat than
prime pork, beef and chicken," said Nguyen Vong, a
crocodile-meat lover who claimed to be a little
concerned about his cholesterol.
"You can have
it barbecued, spring-rolled, sauteed with young corn,
curried or stewed with bamboo shoots. My guests always
enjoy it barbecued on a table grill. This makes the meat
tasty and tender," said Van Tuan, an owner of a
restaurant offering crocodile meat.
(Inter Press
Service)
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