The reputation of Hua Na village for duck farming in the mountainous district of Con Cuong.

In Hua Na village, Luc Da commune, every afternoon, walking along the road running through the center of the village and around the ponds and lakes in the village fields, you'll see people herding ducks back to their pens. Ms. Vi Thi Tu, wading into the ditch to check her duck pen, said she is currently raising over 300 meat ducks. "This flock was expanded from the 100 ducks I received as part of a breeding program from the Farmers' Association. Thanks to this support, I, like many other households, have a new direction for economic development," Ms. Vi Thi Tu explained.

Speaking further about the duck breeding program in Hua Na village, Ms. Ngan Thi Son, the village head, said that following a model where the Provincial Farmers' Association provided 900 ducklings to three households at the beginning of 2024, each household received 300 hybrid Quy ducklings. The households receiving the ducklings from the Provincial Farmers' Association will care for them until they reach the commercial stage, at which point they are committed to using their profits to purchase 200 ducklings to transfer to other households – jokingly referred to as the "second generation." "With this tiered system of transferring ducklings to different 'generations,' each 'tier' reduces the number of ducklings by 100. To date, the duckling support in Hua Na village has been distributed to three tiers of households," Ms. Son explained.

Village head Ngan Thi Son was the first household to implement the program. After about 4 months of raising 300 ducklings, Ms. Son sold the meat ducks at an average price of 150,000 VND/kg. Each duck weighed approximately 1.5-2kg. After selling the 300 ducks, Ms. Son allocated some money to buy 200 ducklings to transfer to the "second generation" household, Ms. Ngan Thi Hoang. The cost of the ducklings varied depending on the time, ranging from 15,000 to 20,000 VND per duckling.

After another 4-5 months of raising, Ms. Ngan Thi Hoang's household harvested and transferred 100 ducklings to Ms. Vi Thi Tu's household. "This third transfer involved three households receiving ducklings, in addition to Ms. Tu, there were also the households of Ha Van Linh and Vi Thi Cau."

According to Luong Van Tung, Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Luc Da commune, along with the transferred breeding stock, households in Hua Na village also participate in bank loans to invest in additional breeding stock, with each household raising an average of 200-300 ducks per batch. Each year, people raise 2-3 batches. To date, most households in Hua Na village raise hybrid Muscovy ducks, forming a village that practices green and clean farming, utilizing natural feed and vegetables from their gardens.

Thanks to this movement, ducks raised in Hua Na are gradually gaining a reputation in Luc Da and neighboring communes due to their delicious meat quality, which is well-received by the market, with traders coming to buy them directly from the farmers' homes.

During holidays and festivals, the people of the villages in Luc Da often organize many gatherings, cultural exchanges, and artistic performances, along with lively culinary activities featuring traditional dishes of the ethnic groups in the area.

Ms. Ngan Thi Son, head of Hua Na village, added that the traditional culinary customs of the Thai ethnic group cannot be without grilled chicken and pork, sticky rice cooked in bamboo tubes, fish soup, buffalo horn-shaped cakes... and for the past two years, grilled duck has gradually appeared more often on the tables of families, especially during festivals and holidays. Significantly, the duck meat is sourced from local people who raise ducks in a green and clean manner.