After graduating from college, Tam Gan returned to his hometown to raise chickens to make money.

The place where Tam “gan” lived and set up his family was a dry white sand field, each step sinking deep into the burning sand. That was Nhi Thuong village, Gio Thanh commune, Gio Linh district (Quang Tri), this place was far from residential areas, there were only a few sparse houses, no electricity, no clean water...

Eight "gan" raise Egyptian chickens free-range in the vast sand dunes, so the chickens have firm meat and are popular in the market. Photo: Ngoc Vu

“I have been working here for over a year now. There was no electricity, so the first few days sleeping alone in the middle of the vast sand dunes felt sad and scary. Now I am used to it and find it interesting, especially the nights lying in the middle of the sand dunes watching the moon rise..”, Tam shared.

Then the 29-year-old man briefly told about his life. After finishing high school, in 2007, Tam studied Network Administration, Information Technology Faculty, Dalat University, and graduated in 2012.

After receiving his bachelor's degree, Tam was accepted to work at several companies, hotels... but the salary of 5 million VND/month discouraged him.

Nguyen Van Tam raises 7 breeding cows both for economic development and to get manure to feed earthworms. Photo: Ngoc Vu

“Since I was young, I have been passionate about agriculture, so when I was depressed because of low salary and had a mental breakdown, I would miss my hometown, the place where I had many childhood memories. I missed it so much that I decided to return to my hometown to start a business in agriculture to fulfill my passion,” Tam confided.

In October 2016, Tam decided to leave the dreamy city of Da Lat to return to the hot, windy sand fields of Gio Linh in his hometown to start a business. The day he returned, Tam's parents and siblings were stunned. Everyone advised him to find an easy job and not pursue agriculture, which would be hard. His parents tried to send him to college so he could find a job that was less difficult and arduous than farming... However, seeing Tam's determination and willingness to face difficulties, the family agreed to support him.

Earthworms are raised by Tam and then dried to feed Egyptian chickens, providing additional nutrition. Photo: Ngoc Vu

Tam chose Egyptian chickens – a completely new breed of chicken in Quang Tri. The reason, as explained by Tam, is that this breed of chicken is new, easy to raise, grows quickly, has firm and delicious meat, and lays eggs very well.

The day Tam borrowed 20 million VND from his siblings to buy 200 Egyptian chickens to try raising at home, everyone was worried. In addition to learning from the practical experiences of other farmers, Tam went online to find additional study materials. When the chickens got sick, Tam invited veterinarians to perform surgery and examination to gain experience.

When he got used to it and saw that raising Egyptian chickens was effective, Tam decided to expand the model. Seeing that the sand field in Trang hamlet, about 2.5 km from his house, was spacious, Tam chose it as the "capital" for his farm.

With good care, Nguyen Van Tam's Egyptian chickens (right) grow quickly and have delicious meat. In 2017, Tam sold 1,000 chickens, each for 150,000 VND. Photo: Ngoc Vu

With little capital, Tam had to use corrugated iron to build a tent of about 25 square meters, 20 square meters for the chickens, and the remaining 5 square meters, Tam put up a small bamboo bed to sleep on. Seeing that scene, everyone said to Tam, "Why are you so stupid? You don't do easy, clean work, but instead you come back to the dry sand dunes and sleep around in that small tent?" Hearing that, Tam said nothing and quietly went to work.

Along with raising chickens, Tam borrowed money from relatives to buy more breeding cows and raise earthworms to raise livestock in a closed chain.

Currently, Tam grows 5 acres of Guinea grass to raise 7 cows to produce manure to feed earthworms to Egyptian chickens. In addition, Tam also makes his own chicken feed using corn, fermented bran, fermented rice combined with golden apple snails caught in the fields... put in a blender and mixed with chopped bananas.

Every month, Tam supplies about 2,000 chicken eggs to the market inside and outside the province, each egg sells for 3,500 VND. Photo: Ngoc Vu

Egyptian chickens will lay eggs after about 5 months of raising them. From the time the chickens lay eggs until they are sold for meat is nearly 2 years. Every day, 300 hens lay about 110 eggs, Tam sells them at a wholesale price of 3,500 VND/egg. In 2017 alone, Tam sold 1,000 meat chickens, each for about 150,000 VND. Roughly calculating, after deducting expenses, Tam makes a profit of about 80 - 100 million VND each year - compared to many people, this source of income is very modest, but this is the dream source of income for young people in the white sand area.

Recently, with a loan of 50 million VND from the Social Policy Bank, Gio Linh District Branch, Tam plans to invest in an automatic irrigation system to expand grass planting, build more chicken coops, and earthworm tanks to increase the flock to 500 egg-laying hens.

Nguyen Van Tam has always had experience, capital and determination to get rich. Now he only has a small wish that the local government will create favorable conditions for land funds so that he can confidently build barns and develop the model.