In order to overcome the limitation of land available for aquaculture in the central costal region of Vietnam and to reduce organic pollution in traditional integrated fish farming, a new method was developed called the ‘improved VAC’ In traditional VAC systems the manure from farm animals is released into fish ponds whereas in the ‘Improved VAC’ the manure is used for earthworm culture. The worm production is then used to feed high value fish species in tanks. | Collaboration for Agriculture and Rural Development CARD Program DEMONSTRATION OF SNAKEHEAD FISH IN TANKS AS A NEW MODEL OF THE TRADITIONAL VAC SYSTEM TO REDUCE ORGANIC POLLUTION AND IMPROVE INCOME FOR FARMERS IN THE CENTRAL COASTAL VIETNAM Project title Improving traditional integrated farming systems VAC - a new livelihood option for poor farmers in the coastal communities Project code CARD 027 07 VIE Author s Võ Văn Bình1 Đào Văn Phú1 Nguyễn Quang Chương1 Mai Văn Tài1 Assoc. Prof. Ravi Fotedar2 Jane Fewtrell2 Project Implementing organisations 1 Centre for Environment and Disease Monitoring in Aquaculture CEDMA - RIA1 2 Agriculture and Environment - Division of Science and Engineering-Curtin University of Technology Australia SUMMARY In order to overcome the limitation of land available for aquaculture in the central costal region of Vietnam and to reduce organic pollution in traditional integrated fish farming a new method was developed called the improved VAC In traditional VAC systems the manure from farm animals is released into fish ponds whereas in the Improved VAC the manure is used for earthworm culture. The worm production is then used to feed high value fish species in tanks. In this project snakehead fish Channa maculatus cultured in tanks and fed partly on earthworms resulted in an increase in income generation for farmers. The results have shown that the fish growth rate was relatively high reaching 700 g fish after 5 months. The FCR for the entire production cycle was and in demonstrations in Thanh Hoa Ha Tinh and Quang Tri respectively. Water quality remained within the acceptable range for fish health with NH3 and NO2 levels in the tanks being significantly lower than those in ponds. Economic analysis indicated that there was a high net profit in all demonstrations with a ROI of 71 104 and 41 in Thanh Hoa Ha Tinh and Quang Tri respectively. The results demonstrate that culture of snakehead fish in tanks fed a partial diet of .
