Large-scale commodity livestock production brings high profits

Diu Thi He's family in Lo Lo Chai village (Lung Cu commune, Dong Van district, Ha Giang province) has been developing large-scale chicken farming since October 2021. Currently, her farm has 1,000 hens and 300 meat chickens.

“Back in the day, when I did not get hold of the technical procedures required for raising livestock, poverty and deprivation were always present in the family. To master animal husbandry techniques, I even looked for knowledge from newspapers. I also regularly called and asked for advice from the district's commune veterinary staff,” said He.

Accumulating knowledge while working on the farm, after 3 years, He has a fairly solid grasp of how to care for the herd, clean cages, and perform vaccinations. The family’s chicken flock produces 500 to 700 eggs a day and sells to the market at a price of VND 3,000 per egg. She earns VND 1.5 - 2 million per day on average. This source of income brings stability to He's daily life, enough to send her children to school.

Along with He's family, there are a few households of the Lo Lo and Mong ethnic groups currently in Lung Cu commune, Dong Van district raising livestock on a large scale and gaining visible success. A typical example is Giang Mi Dinh's household in Xin Man Kha village with the model of raising breeding cows, fattening cows and goats, earning an income of nearly VND 100 million/year. The breeding pig farm of Ly Mi Po's family in Cang Tang village is also a mentionable model since it gets him VND 35 to 40 million after each sale.

Chu Van Huong, Party Secretary of Lung Cu commune, Dong Van district, Ha Giang province, said that many households in the commune have innovated their thinking, boldly investing in economic development, and diversifying all types of plants and pets.

Building economic models for farms and family farms in the direction of multi-cropping and multi-livestock farming now becomes a popular trend. Applying modern science and technology to animal husbandry and production contributes to increasing productivity and product quality. As of now, the commune has had many models of household economic development, with an average revenue of VND 150 - 200 million/year.

The development of economic models not only creates jobs for many local workers, contributes to hunger eradication and poverty reduction, but also promotes the sustainable development of the commune’s livestock industry.

Although there have been many positive changes, the livestock industry in Lung Cu is also struck with many difficulties. Because this place is mainly populated by ethnic minorities, the techniques and knowledge about animal husbandry pose certain limitations.

Small-scale livestock farming mindset still exists, so disease control is one of the top concerns, and it is difficult to create strong economic changes brought about by livestock farming. The support of local authorities as well as the agriculture and rural development sector of Ha Giang province will therefore make an important contribution to promoting the development of concentrated livestock farming in Lung Cu commune.

In recent years, Ha Giang livestock farming has developed in the commodity direction with the goal of increasing the value of livestock products. Total output of meat for sale in 2022 is over 58,800 tons. The total value the lvestock industry earned in 2022 is approximately VND 4,000 billion.

Although there have been many improvements, in reality the livestock industry in Ha Giang still has ample difficulties. The province's livestock industry mainly consists of small-scale farming models because of the long-standing farming practices of ethnic minorities.

The province has not attracted many cooperatives and businesses to invest in the field of livestock farming, pre-processing and processing of livestock products, making the output unstable, and joint production activities along the value chain has not achieved good results. Despite the shortcomings, Ha Giang has implemented many policies to facilitate the development of the local livestock industry.