Pig-raising female millionaire in Mong Cai

Mong Cai pig has long become a famous OCOP product in Quang Ninh mining land. This is a precious indigenous pig breed, but it was at risk of extinction at one time because of cross-breeding with other pig breeds. Therefore, the government and people in Mong Cai City implemented the restoration of this specialty pig breed 10 years ago.

As one of the pioneers in preserving the Mong Cai pig breed, Mrs. Dang Thi Lien, Director of Van Thanh Phat Cooperative (Mong Cai City), has built a model for raising and producing quality breeds to supply to the market.

Coming to the border city of Mong Cai, no one knows about the Mong Cai pig-raising model of Mrs. Dang Thi Lien. Following a small road in Hai Yen ward (Mong Cai city), a reporter from Vietnam Agriculture Newspaper came to the Mong Cai pig farm with the most significant scale in the city.

Wearing worn-out clothes, protective boots, and a sun hat, Mrs. Lien wiped away the sweat from her forehead while pointing towards the approximately 2-hectare barn raising special Mong Cai pigs.

Regarding falling in love with the profession, Mrs. Lien said: "I was born and raised in a poor rural area. When I was a child, I often helped my parents herd pigs. I have been through everything from cutting vegetables, slicing bananas, cooking bran for the pigs, and cleaning the cage. At that time, each family only had 1-2 pigs, so raising them was easier than with hundreds of pigs."

Gradually, Ms. Lien switched from growing fruit trees to industrial pig farming, but the economic efficiency was not high. By 2014, Mong Cai City's policy was to restore the native Mong Cai pig breed, and Mrs. Lien quickly seized the opportunity.

Initially, from 5 Mong Cai pigs, Mrs. Lien gradually expanded the model, increasing the herd of pigs. After nearly 10 years of working in the profession, her family's Mong Cai pig herd has grown to hundreds of pigs each year.

Recalling the time in 2014, Mrs. Lien confided: "At that time, because white pork was cheap, only about VND 20,000/kg of live pig, and had a high lean rate, people and traders mainly chose this type of meat.

On the contrary, Mong Cai pigs are not known to many people. In addition, the selling price is much higher, up to nearly VND 100,000. Pigs easily accumulate fat, so I always considered raising Mong Cai pigs when growing them. Then sell it to whom?

Not only facing difficulties in output, raising pigs to reduce the amount of fat and increase the juiciness of Mong Cai pork also caused Mrs. Lien to lose sleep and eat for many days.

"At first, I and many households raising Mong Cai pigs had no experience, so they increased them using industrial methods, resulting in fat and fatty pigs. Gradually, I switched to traditional, rustic farming like in the past.

Specifically, Mong Cai pigs are fed vegetables, corn, cassava, and reduced starch in meals. In particular, I also provide trash fish and free-range farming to help the pigs lose fat and make their meat firmer and tastier than before."

After increasing the quality of Mong Cai pig, Mrs. Dang Thi Lien immediately considered the output problem for the product. "There were times when we raised pigs just to advertise and let people try them. My husband even scolded me for not getting any money if I raised pigs all day and gave them away. My family's finances were also complicated then," Mrs. Lien recounted.

God does not disappoint. Thanks to Mrs. Lien's perseverance, many customers, after learning about the Mong Cai pig farming model of Van Thanh Phat Cooperative, came directly to see and catch pigs in the garden. "Some customers complimented Mong Cai pigs as beautiful as those in Dong Ho folk paintings. Some customers confided that after eating Mong Cai pigs, they became addicted without knowing it," Mrs. Lien said.

To contribute to building a chain model of Mong Cai pig OCOP products from production to consumption to enhance the value of local agricultural products, Duyen Hai Quang Ninh Joint Stock Company decided to sign a contract with Van Thanh Phat Cooperative launched the product "Mong Cai Pig with all dishes".

With a closed culinary production cycle and at the border gate for trade with China, Mrs. Lien wants to promote Mong Cai pig products to domestic and international consumers.

In the coming time, not only will Mong Cai pigs serve a variety of dishes on the dining table, but the affiliated units also aim to create products that visitors can bring home as gifts for relatives when coming here.

Van Thanh Phat Cooperative sells over 500 Mong Cai pigs, including meat and breeding pigs. With a selling price of VND 150,000/kg of commercial pigs and VND 1.5 - VND 2 million/breeding pig each year, Mrs. Lien's Mong Cai pig farm brings in hundreds of millions of VND in income. With love for her profession, determination, daring to think, and daring to do, Mrs. Lien has legitimately become rich from local products.

In the future, Van Thanh Phat Cooperative will build an organic Mong Cai pig farming model, with 100 pigs per year, to provide clean and safe pork products for consumers' health. Besides, increasing the value of Mong Cai pig products brings higher income to farmers than before.