Frogs Venture
Frog meat has been poppular in the local markets for the last few years. Price ranges from 4 USD to 5 USD per kg.
As our determined efforts to seek sustainability, our team has adopted a frog raising project starting with 1100 (one month old) baby-frogs for the pice of 62.5 USD from a national university of agriculture in the Kingdom of Cambodia.
We entrusted this project to a young man from a nearby community. His name is Phalla who just returned from working in the capital city. He had been working in the city for several years after leaving his village. He decided to return to his village to start something different.
How old before we can sell our frogs & price?
We learned that it takes about 3 months in total to raise frogs before we can sell them to the market. At the current price, a kilogram of frogs can be up to 4 USD retail price. For the wholesale price to the middle men, it depends. We have heard that the price can be as low as 1.25 USD. The best way to save and earn is when we can bypass the middle men.
For the natural frogs – from rice paddis, people are willing to pay up to 6 USD per kilogram. Local farmers enjoy catching up during their free time from rice farming. Frogs live in small holes cover with grass or rice wheat. Sometimes, villagers catch both snakes and frogs at the same holes.
What are the capital costs?
It costs 0.06 cents per baby frog ( 1 month old) from a breeding center. We paid about 62.5 USD for 1000 baby frogs ( the minimum requirment of purchase). 100 baby frogs were provided for free as we paid for the min-order. In total, we received 1100 baby frogs when we started raising.
We also had to set up a plastic pool for them to live. This cost 15 USD for the plastic (square )- excluding the labor work. Our team reported that a kg of frog feeds cost 1 USD per kilo. At the retail price, we pay 1 USD per kg of feed. We need 2 kg of feeds per day. About 60 USD is estimated for the feeds in the first month. The second month, as the frogs become bigger, they consume up to 3 kg of feeds. This should be about 90 USD in the second month.
Prediction of profits & Cost – Period of Operation
We are still studying the death rate of our frogs. Our period of raising is about 2 months. Let’s say, if we harvest 800 frogs at the end, we might gain 200 kg in total ( about 4 frogs per kg). At the market price, with high demand , and venders pay 2 USD, then we should get 400 USD. It seems there is about 200 USD profit margin for the work of 2 months. In the standard of living in a village, this part time job should give a good supplemental income to support a household.
