Earning half a billion VND/year, quitting their job to work on a farm

Mr Hoang Huynh Ngu, 35 years old, was born and raised in the hot land of Laos, Son Giang commune, Huong Son district, Ha Tinh province. After graduating from high school, although his family conditions were difficult, his parents decided to let him go to university, hoping in the future that his son would escape the difficult life situation.

In 2012, Mr Ngu graduated from the National University of Forestry, he then went to the South to work as a forest product processing engineer at a wood company. Two years later, he married a girl from the same hometown, Ms Le Thi Thu Trang, an office worker. The total monthly income of the couple at that time fluctuated around VND 25 million, a stable income.

Mr Ngu confided that that level of income is the dream of many people, but he is not satisfied because he is employed, always suffering the situation "between the anvil and the hammer". Managing more than a dozen workers, if he is strict, the workers would blame him, if he loosened the regulation, he would be scolded by the boss.

“My personality is like freedom and I want to live close to my family, so I want to start a business on my own land”, Mr Ngu said and shared. In his time working in Binh Duong, taking advantage of his day off, he drives to neighbouring provinces to visit models of sows and wild boars, waiting for opportunities.

In mid-2016, he asked his parents to rent 1.5 ha of land from the commune, deciding to return to his hometown to set up a combined farm. A few days later, he wrote a letter of resignation, even though his wife had just given birth to their first child, their salary at that time increased to VND 30 million per month.

When listening to Mr Ngu's decision, his parents and wife both strongly objected, but over time they come to an agreement. Mr Ngu accumulated all his capital and borrowed a red cover from his parents and two relatives to apply for a loan of VND 800 million to start a business. He built an operator house, and 3 rows of barns, and bought 10 breeding cows worth 250 million VND to raise. After settling down, he picked up his wife and children from Binh Duong. After settling down, he welcomed his wife and children from Binh Duong.

Mr Ngu said that the area he rented before was a hill for growing acacia and tea. After completing the barn system, in early 2017, he bought 200 chickens to take care of for the purpose of short-term raising. Four months later, he sold the first batch of chickens and had a source of income to pay interest on loans.

In the first stage, the profit was small but quite stable, but by the end of the year, when the 10 calves came to be sold, the market was gloomy, and the price of calves dropped dramatically, causing the farm to lose hundreds of millions of VND.

“At that time, a 5- to 6-month-old calf costs from VND 12-14 million, down to only VND 4 million/calf. Major domestic partners do not purchase because exporting to foreign countries is difficult. The heavy loss made me lose up to 7kg in just 2 months," Mr Hoang Huynh Ngu recalled.

According to him, the most stressful is the loan of hundreds of millions of VND from the bank, each month he needs at least VND 5-7 million to pay interest.

I asked, have you ever thought of giving up? A muscular man with tanned skin opens up: “Many days, coming home from work late at night, seeing that my wife is still up for dinner, I wonder if my decision to go home was wrong. In my mind, I also had the idea of going back to the South to work to earn money to pay off the debt to relieve pressure on my family, but the next morning, that thought was almost extinguished.

Persevering with his decision, by the beginning of 2019, the farm has prospered again. He took the profit to expand the scale to 12,000 chickens, 26 deer, and 3 cows. On average, in recent years, the revenue from selling broiler chickens, deer antlers and calves has reached around VND 1.5 billion/year, after deducting expenses, the profit is about VND 500 million.

Constantly learning and improving his expertise, he attended training classes for agricultural engineers, primarily in veterinary medicine to self-treat cows, deer and chickens on the farm.

After seven years of leaving town to return to his hometown, Mr Ngu confided: "It is really difficult to judge whether this decision is right or wrong. When in Binh Duong, I and my wife worked overtime for many days, only returning home at 9 pm, with little opportunity to take care of their children. Going home is difficult, however, we enjoy the fresh air, having time to rest in the evening, and gathering with my family".

According to the leader of Huong Son district, Mr Hoang Dinh Ngu's integrated livestock farm model has developed quite effectively. He is a pioneer young man who quit his high-paying job and returned to his hometown to borrow money to start a business from nothing. This is really a bold and risky decision. That boldness initially brought success and inspired young people who were cherishing the idea of getting rich in their homeland, instead of leaving home to find a livelihood.