Young Farm Owners

(Baonghean) -After a period of working for hire in industrial zones in the South and the North, many young people in Anh Son district have returned to their hometowns to participate in economic development. They have become “young bosses”, day and night changing the face of this difficult land.

Nguyen Tai Dai in Tuong Son commune, Anh Son district, looks much stronger and more mature than his 22 years. Leading us through a small dirt road to visit the farm, Dai enthusiastically talked about frog farming techniques, habits, food, and pest control methods for this new breed of animal in the highlands. Dai said that in the near future, after harvesting the acacia hills, he will renovate the hills to grow raw tea, both to create a landscape and to generate income faster. Next to the tea hills is a system of wild boar pens and ponds for raising frogs and fish, which promise to bring in high income.

Born into a poor family in Tuong Son commune, after finishing high school, he took the university entrance exam but failed. Like many other young people, he asked his parents for some money and decided to "go South". After a period of struggling throughout the Central Highlands, Saigon, Vung Tau, Binh Duong, the young man realized that if he continued to work as a factory worker, he would not be able to get better. Meanwhile, the land and fields in his hometown were left unused, his parents even had to hire seasonal workers while he worked for others.

In 2011, after many days of thinking, Dai decided to pack his bags and return to his hometown, surprising his friends, siblings and parents. Upon returning home, Dai did not immediately start farming but continued to research and listen. Wherever there was a new, good and suitable economic model, Dai would go there to learn. After nearly half a year of just going around and watching, Dai decided that he would have to go to farms in Thanh Hoa, Hanoi, Bac Giang, to find areas with soil similar to his hometown to learn the trade.

In Thanh Hoa, Dai was fascinated by a boss's frogs. After 3 months of learning frog farming here, Dai went to Hanoi, met a brother who was nearly 10 years older than him, who was the owner of a frog farming and distribution business in the capital. Realizing this was an opportunity for him and his family, Dai returned to his hometown, decided to renovate the farm where his parents had been raising small fish and planting lemon trees, but it was not effective for raising frogs.

At first, Dai blocked the stream behind his house to create a continuous system of 4 water ponds, bought nets, and built frog cages. When seeing a strong young man, only 20 years old, taking care of tiny frogs, some young people of the same age secretly laughed, thinking "this guy has a problem, not going to study any big profession but going back to the countryside to dig the land and raise frogs". Thanks to proper care, Dai's frog cages grew rapidly, were disease-free, and sold for high prices.

In the first batch, Dai raised 1 ton of frog meat, sold for more than 50 million VND and started to make a profit after deducting all costs of pond renovation and food. When the second batch of frogs, when the output was larger, Dai had difficulty finding an outlet for the frogs because Anh Son Town was tiny, very few restaurants could consume dozens of tons of frogs. At that time, with a phone with internet access in hand, Dai searched the internet, found reputable addresses and asked his older brother in Hanoi for advice and to find an outlet. As soon as he posted the ad online, his batch of frogs immediately had buyers.

Nguyen Tai Dai next to his frog pond.

After many times like that, Dai became a regular supplier for companies in Hanoi, and he also boldly bought frog breeds in other districts and imported them to farms in the North. After two years of successful frog harvests, Dai is thinking about expanding the farm, learning how to breed frogs himself to serve the needs of the people. "Frog farms in the North really like to choose frog breeds from the Central region because they have less diseases and the meat is much tastier than frog breeds from the South. This is an opportunity for frog breeders like us to develop further," Dai confided.

Mr. Bui Cong Son, Secretary of the Youth Union of Tuong Son commune, said that although Dai's model has just begun to develop a farm economy and produce goods, many young people and people in the commune have learned and followed Dai's model. Nguyen Tai Dai was also elected by the young people as Secretary of the Youth Union of the hamlet, and was trusted by the people in the hamlet to be assigned the task of Village Team Leader, in charge of the hamlet's militia and self-defense force, ready to mobilize young people and people, and militia and self-defense force to participate in forest fire prevention and fighting, storm and flood prevention, security drills, and combat readiness.

Also in Tuong Son commune, Nguyen Van Hung (born in 1989), is also a young man who returned to his hometown to start a business after a period of wandering in the South and the North. As a college student, graduated from the monochord major, Hung used to hang around music venues to perform. However, seeing that the life of an artist was too precarious, frivolous and had no basis for long-term stability, in 2010, Hung took his guitar and returned to his hometown to the surprise of everyone. After studying his family's barn system, Hung rushed to build a plan to raise wild boars on a large scale.

Working hard to the point of forgetting to eat and sleep, Hung's achievement is a herd of over 40 wild boars, earning an annual income of over 50 million VND. In hamlet 6, Hung Son commune, young man Pham Cong Cuong (born in 1987) is also the owner of a tea hill garden system with an area of ​​over 2.7 hectares after a period of working in industrial zones in the South. On average, each year, Cuong's tea area has 8-9 harvests, each time about 8 tons of fresh tea buds. With the current tea price, Cuong has an average income of over 150 million VND/year, something that when he worked as a worker, this young man did not even dare to dream of.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Ha, Secretary of Anh Son District Youth Union, said that from the success of the first young people who returned to their hometown to start a business, up to now, in Anh Son district, there are about 100 young people who are owners of farms and economic models after a period of hard work as workers. Many highly effective economic models such as Mr. Hoang Thuy Sen in village 1/5, Cam Son commune, has an income of about 363 million VND/year with a systematic VACR system; Mr. Bui Xuan Chien has an income of 450 million VND/year with a system of producing fired bricks and raising porcupines; Mr. Nguyen Huu Dai with a welding and mechanical workshop in Lang Son commune; Mr. Vo The Duong opened a mechanical workshop in Duc Son commune, creating stable jobs for 5 young people, ... Dozens of other young people are achieving desirable incomes in rural areas with models such as industrial tea planting, raw material forest planting, sugarcane and other forms of combining VAC and VACR.

From the above initial success, currently, Anh Son District Youth Union is trying to replicate effective youth economic models, considering this a form of propaganda with high influence to young people who have and are intending to go to the South to work after dropping out of school.

Nowadays, with the strong development of information technology and social networks, young people in rural areas are no longer too worried about the technical issues of raising livestock, growing crops, and product output. What they need here are specific economic models and capital sources as well as the attention and encouragement of local authorities and social organizations. In particular, access to capital sources is the most difficult problem for young people because most banks require borrowers to have collateral, have a land title or have legal status as a director or cooperative manager. These requirements are very difficult to implement for young people, many of whom are not married.

Currently, the capital from the Youth Employment Project of the Central Youth Union and the Social Policy Bank is considered the closest and most accessible source for young people, but administrative procedures and "hard requirements" to borrow capital from this source are making it difficult for young people. Because of the limited fund, each individual can only borrow no more than 10 million VND, this amount is currently not enough to buy a small calf and is very difficult to become a motivation for young people to develop the economy on a farm scale or invest in production and business. If they want to borrow 100 million VND or more, the borrower must have a production and business complex or must have a farm certificate that meets standards in terms of area, scale, income level, etc. For young people who are just starting out in the economy, this is a very difficult thing.

“Over the past years, many young people have had a big change in their awareness and economic thinking, and many people have boldly applied science and technology to production and business. However, access to capital is currently the biggest obstacle. Authorities and banks should have a more suitable policy such as lending to young people in the form of credit, lending at low interest rates, flexible repayment methods, and simple and streamlined loan procedures. Doing so will contribute significantly to encouraging young people to develop the economy and get rich legitimately in their homeland,” said Secretary of the Anh Son District Youth Union.

Nguyen Khoa