Farming Weasels for High Grade Coffee

So far, it has become normal for farmers to raise porcupines, snakes, etc. to earn a living, but they rarely raise weasels, especially for making high grade coffee. However, in Phu Lam Tay village, Hanh Thien commune, Nghia Hanh district (Quang Ngai province), 37 year-old farmer Ho Duy Trung is pursuing just this dream with a herd of over one hundred weasels. Starting to raise weasels by chance Weasel cages are located around his rural-style house. There are 30 adjoining cages behind his house. Each is 2m2 with mother weasels or couples in breeding season. Trung is very satisfied with his property: “The value of this weasel herd is over VND500 million. There are 50 for breeding, including 20 males; the biggest weighs nearly 10kg while the smallest weighs about 2kg.” Answering my question about where the idea of raising weasel came from, he smiled “It is by chance. I didn’t think that it was so easy to raise weasels!” He explains this by recounting a story linking his fate with weasels. In early 2007, on the way to his field in Minh Long commune (Quang Ngai), he met some H’re ethnic people selling a small weasel couple (one male and one female). Feeling interested, he bought them at only VND 1,000. He said, “I bought them only because of compassion. They ate milk and even fruits, which made me think that these wild weasels are easy to raise, so I raised them.” One year later, the female gave birth to 4 babies. Trung seemed at the top of the world with his weasels. The idea then came that weasels could be raised for benefit, which made Trung take even better care of them. Trung’s weasels continued to reproduce. “There are many people coming to buy breeding weasels, but I have sold 6 couples at VND25 million/couple. And I have another plan for my weasels.” He stopped talking and looked away with a hidden thought. Dream of a new life Starting with only VND1,000 for the weasel couple four years ago, so far, Trung has 50 breeding weasels worth nearly VND500 million. He also has 50 five-month-old ones, for a total value of up to VND700 million. Such an asset is not small for a farmer in the highlands of Hanh Thien commune. However, as for Trung, such an amount of money is nothing if he can hatch his plan for the future.” “In February 2011, there was a person asking me to bring 6 breeding couples to the Coffee Festival in Buon Ma Thuot city. At that time, I realized that if another can build up a brand of weasel coffee with only 4 ones, why can’t I do the same with my 30 adult ones and the same number of babies?” said Trung. His thought was shared by Mr Nguyen Van Hoang, representative of Hiep Dat Coffee Company (Hoc Mon district, HCMC). Mr Hoang followed Trung to his cages and pilot fed weasels with about 700 kg coffee (VND 22,000/kg). On the first day, only 7 ate the coffee beans, but later the whole herd did. After spending 3 days in the weasels’ digestive tract, the beans were defecated in clumps, weighing up to 28kg. At the current price, 1 kg is over VND1 million while the weasel coffee finished product is VND16 million/kg. “For the past month, coffee in the Central Highlands has been harvested and the weasels have also been fed with coffee. However, for the long-term, I should consider the dependence on another enterprise. Only with growing my own coffee can the dream of raising weasels for high grade coffee come true,” said Trung. With these thoughts, Trung is more determined, especially when he has 3ha of basalt land. His father once planted coffee with good results. Therefore, in early December 2011, Trung seeded coffee in his own land. He happily shared, “I’ve registered for the brand of weasel coffee and am waiting to be certified”. Saying goodbye to Trung, I believed that in near future, this farmer will be successful with his dream of producing weasel coffee.