The female millionaire raising pigs in Mong Cai

A childhood helping the family raise pigs

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

As one of the pioneers in preserving the Mong Cai pig breed, Ms Dang Thi Lien, Director of Van Thanh Phat Cooperative (Mong Cai City), has built a model of breeding 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 Ms Dang Thi Lien. Following a small road in Hai Yen ward (Mong Cai city), a reporter from Vietnam Agriculture News came to the Mong Cai pig farm with the largest scale in the city.

In faded clothes, protective boots and a sun hat, Mrs Lien raised her hand to wipe the sweat pouring from her forehead and pointed to the barn about 2 ha wide where she was raising the speciality Mong Cai pig breed. Talking about the process of falling in love with the profession, Ms. Lien said: "I was born and raised in a poor rural area. When I was a child, I often helped my parent's herd pigs. From cutting vegetables, slicing bananas, and cooking bran for the pigs to cleaning the cage, I have been through it all. At that time, each family only had 1-2 pigs, so raising them was easier than with hundreds of pigs like now".

“After graduating from high school, I studied industrial economics, and then after graduating, I returned to live in Mong Cai. At that time, to have money to make ends meet, I went to trade fresh goods at the border gate and did not think that I would raise pigs in the future. In 2000, I invested in growing fruit trees. To grow short-term crops, my family combined raising white pigs to get fertilizer for the trees", Ms. Lien confided.

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

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

Raising Mong Cai pigs without knowing who to sell them to 

Recalling the time in 2014, Ms 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 when I started raising them, I always wondered: raising Mong Cai pigs and selling them 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 Ms Lien to lose sleep and not eat properly for many days. 

“At first, I and many households raising Mong Cai pigs had no experience, so they raised them using industrial methods, resulting in fat and high-fat percentage 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 feed them trash fish, combined with 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 pork, Ms 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 that if I raised pigs all day and gave them away, I wouldn't get any money. At that time, my family's finances were also very difficult", Ms. Lien recounted. 

The Heaven does not disappoint, thanks to Ms 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 are as beautiful as the pigs in Dong Ho folk paintings. Some customers confided that after eating Mong Cai pigs, they became addicted without knowing it", Ms. Lien said.

The chain link from farm to table

Talking about the process of developing and building the Mong Cai pig brand, Ms Lien recalled: "In the past, I took pigs to sell at famous restaurants in Ha Long City. Many people also criticize Mong Cai pigs for being so fat that they don't want to eat them. I was very sad after hearing this, but ignoring everything, I believe that once you eat Mong Cai pork that is raised according to the correct process, consumers will forever remember that delicious taste".

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