Highlanders in Nghe An restock livestock after Tet

At this time, people in the mountainous districts of Ky Son, Que Phong, Quy Chau, Tuong Duong... gatherre-herdHowever, the amount of breeding stock is not enough to meet the demand. Because during the recent Tet holiday, most households basically sold pigs, chickens, and fish to the market.

Ms. Vi Thi Huong's family in Cha Lau village, Nam Giai commune (Que Phong) has just bought 3 native black pigs to raise in their barn. Ms. Huong said that during the recent Lunar New Year, her family sold 2 pigs to customers for more than 7 million VND. Not leaving the barn empty, after Tet she immediately looked for piglets to raise, however,pig breedingalso scarce, because many people buy.

"Native black pigs are easy to raise, and their food is mostly available, so the cost is low. However, they grow slowly, but the selling price is high. Currently, customers buy them at 100,000 VND/kg for pigs over 30 kg," said Ms. Huong.

Mr. Lo Minh Tuong - Chairman of Nam Giai Commune People's Committee said: During the recent Tet holiday, people in the commune sold a lot of pigs, chickens and fish. Due to high customer demand, the selling price during Tet increased slightly compared to normal days. Preliminary statistics during Tet show that for pigs, people in the commune earned about 1 billion VND; local black chickens were sold for 2.7 billion VND and about 300 million VND from selling fish raised in ponds. Therefore, after Tet, the amount of pork in the commune is scarce.

"The reason why the native black pigs in Nam Giai commune are popular in the market is because people raise them traditionally and their meat is delicious. Grass carp raised here also have a regular water source so the water in the pond is always clean... People feed them mainly banana leaves and grass, so the fish meat is delicious. After Tet, people focus on restocking and taking good care of them to create a source of income locally," said Mr. Tuong.

According to Mr. Phan Trong Dung - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Que Phong district, Tet is an occasion for people in the district to sell specialty livestock such as black pigs, black chickens, fish... Therefore, after this January, people focus on restocking, so the source of breeding animals is also more difficult. Besides, the number of pigs and chickens in January also decreased sharply.

Black chickens and black pigs are native livestock of the highland people. Because people raise them mainly with available food sources such as corn, rice, bananas, mosquito nets, etc., the meat quality is guaranteed. Therefore, pigs here are sold at high prices: pigs weighing 15 kg or less cost 120,000 VND/kg; pigs weighing 16 - 30 kg/head cost 90,000 VND/kg and larger pigs cost 70,000 VND/kg./.