VietNamNet Bridge - Ruoi linh den as called by Vietnamese, or Hermetia Illucens, are believed to be useful in treating organic waste.

When a reporter entered a fly net at Phan Van Be’s house in Duc Lap Thuong commune in Duc Hoa district in Long An province, he saw flies flying on all sides. 

None of the flies swarmed over him, but tried to keep away from him. After a moment, some flies stopped flying and perched on trees’ branches.

“If you return here in two or three more days, you will see the net full of flies,” Be, the owner, said. 

In the past, Be, a primary school teacher, produced superworms and provided the worms to those who bred ornamental fish. However, his business encountered big difficulties as the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) in April 2014 decided to prohibit production and trading of the worm.

After that, Be shifted to breed pigeons. 

“It is complicated to raise 2,000 pigeons. You need to feed them and deal with their guano,” he said.

Ruoi linh den as called by Vietnamese, or Hermetia Illucens, are believed to be useful in treating organic waste.

Be, when trying to look for the solution to the guano treatment, found the documents about ruoi linh den (Hermetia Illucens). The documents say ruoi linh den can easily consume the waste from pigeons. Besides, the flies can also provide food to poultry and cattle.

The documents prompted him to breed ruoi linh den. “People might think that ruoi linh den is a harmful insect species. But in fact, ruoi linh den does not bear the characteristics that other fly species have,” he said.

“Ruoi linh den is a natural enemy which exists in nature,” Be explained.

Six months after he set to work, he discovered that ruoi linh den spawns. The accidental discovery encouraged him to learn more about the insect which has helped him obtain necessary knowledge to raise the flies.

At present, Be’s ruoi linh den not only helps him deal with the waste from 2,000 pigeons, but can also produce a large amount of eggs and larva which Be has been providing to livestock breeding farms throughout the country. 

Flies’ spawn would be hatched into larvae after four days. If it is defatted and dried, it  could serve as good protein-rich food for cattle and fish. Raw larva could be a favorite food for poultry.

Be believes that ruoi linh den can bring big benefits to people. If breeding the flies in a large scale, the flies would help settle organic garbage – rotten vegetables and fruits, shrimp heads and fishbone waste at traditional markets.

However, state agencies still have not made any conclusion about the fly species. Therefore, the fly breeding is neither encouraged nor prohibited.


NLD