Business gets prickly in HCM City

A farmer in HCM city feeds porcupines. Porcupine breeding is attracting farmers as it appears to be an increasingly lucrative business. — VNA/VNS Photo Xuan Truong

Porcupine breeders can get a return on their investment quickly, rapidly breaking into profit, said Do Cong Vinh, a farm manager in the city.

Some years ago, breeding porcupines were sold when they reached two months of age, but now they are sold when just a month old because breeders need more young animals for sale, he said.

In February, breeding porcupines were as cheap as VND11 million (US$580) a pair, but now they are fetching VND13 million ($680). Breeding porcupines can be sold at VND30-32 million ($1,580-1,680) a pair.

After investing in a couple of breeding pair of porcupines at VND30 million ($1,580), breeders can see a return on their capital within a year, and enjoy high profits from the second year, Vinh said.

Every year, porcupines give birth to four young, which can be sold for VND26 million ($1,370), which combined with low maintenance costs make them good investments, he added.

"The largest expense when breeding porcupines is their cages and food, which just includes different kinds of vegetables, and can be bought at markets for next to nothing," Vinh said.

Depending on the porcupine's age, they eat half to two kilos of vegetables everyday, with food bills amounting to little beyond VND1 million ($50) a month.

Porcupines can be sold to restaurants or medicinal herbs shops, Vinh said.

"Porcupine stomachs can be used to make medicine to treat stomach-ache, and their galls can treat sore eyes and backache," he said.

Porcupines can continue breeding for 15-20 years. A farmer with a stock of less than a hundred can rake in a billion dong every year, he said.

However, experts said that although breeding porcupines can bring high profits, farmers should consider carefully before investing in the business.

Vo Van Su, head of the rare animals and biodiversity unit under the Institute of Animal Husbandry, said porcupines are reported to rarely suffer from diseases, except common ailments such as diarrhoea and pneumonia caused by low quality food and unhygienic cages. People, however, should still consider carefully when breeding them.

"No animal is immune from diseases, and breeding animals on a large scale means diseases can break out and easily spread," he said.

Deputy Director of the Department of Animal Husbandry under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Duong said the department has not developed any programme or strategy for breeding porcupines.

According to the CITES Management Authority of Viet Nam, by the end of last year more than 250,000 porcupines were raised in captivity in the country.

The HCM City Department of Forest Management reports some 93 households in the city are breeding 4,900 porcupines in suburban districts including Cu Chi, Binh Chanh and District 12. — VNS