The woman with the farm raising "free-range chickens and local pigs"

(Baonghean) A handful of corn, tossed into the air by a 36-year-old woman, hadn't even touched the ground when thousands of sleek, golden-feathered chickens swarmed around her. Meanwhile, dozens of black pigs, ducks, and geese rushed from the bushes and hillsides, crowding around the wire fence next to the chicken coop... This was the impressive scene we witnessed when we visited the chicken farm of Ms. Pay Thi Huyen in Bon village, Yen Na commune (Tuong Duong district)...

Refusing to accept poverty

Born in 1976, a few years ago, Ms. Pay Thi Huyen built her business from scratch. Having just finished junior high school, she saw her impoverished village, where people relied solely on farming and forestry, and many families had struggled to escape poverty for years, let alone become wealthy. Because of her family's poverty, Huyen couldn't afford to attend high school.

Staying in her hometown, Huyen often felt a pang of longing when she saw her friends going to school. With a burning dream, Huyen was determined to learn about production, reading books and newspapers, and watching television to gain basic knowledge about animal husbandry and veterinary medicine. Just as she was nurturing her dream of escaping poverty, her husband passed away from a terrible cancer, leaving her with two young children. All the family's money had been spent on her husband's treatment, and now, with his death, all their savings were gone. Huyen's children were grown up, all well-behaved and hardworking, which eased Huyen's burden and provided her with emotional support.

In 2010, a poverty reduction project provided Huyen with 50 new chicks, a few weeks old, along with some capital and knowledge about animal husbandry. Through the Women's Union of the commune, Huyen boldly borrowed an additional 20 million VND from the Social Policy Bank to invest in raising chickens and pigs. Seeing Huyen's determination, everyone supported her.

Ms. Pay Thi Huyen dreams of getting rich from a chicken farm.

Starting with 50 chickens, a plot of land of about 2,000 square meters on the hillside, and a small loan, Huyen boldly invested in building chicken coops and diligently sought out experience from distant places like Bac Giang and Bac Ninh. Night after night, Huyen would spend hours watching TV and reading newspapers at the community post office to learn about livestock and poultry farming. From a few dozen chickens and a few pigs, with her hard work, saving, and existing knowledge, Huyen gradually became successful in just over a year.

In 2011, Pay Thi Huyen's farm had over 3,000 free-range chickens, along with a dozen local pigs, as well as ducks, geese, and other poultry. During the recent Lunar New Year (Year of the Dragon), Huyen sold over 2,000 chickens, averaging 1.5 kg each, at an average price of 180,000 VND/kg. After deducting production costs, Huyen earned a profit of nearly 300 million VND. According to Huyen, although Bon village is far from the district center, traders from all over frequently come to inquire about buying chickens and pigs. Many call to place orders and request delivery to Hoa Binh town, but she sells everything she raises, unable to meet customer demand.

Enriching our homeland

Having prior knowledge of animal husbandry and seeing the high profitability of raising livestock and poultry, she plans to expand her farm in 2012. "But the difficulty is the lack of an incubator; currently, I have to transport thousands of eggs all the way to Bac Giang to incubate them," Huyen explained. Seeing Huyen's family prosper, many people in the commune are also learning about her methods to get rich. Huyen wholeheartedly helps anyone who comes to her, from providing breeds and farming techniques to supplying medicines for livestock and poultry diseases. As a result, many people in Bon village, Yen Na commune, are now gradually adopting large-scale farming. Instead of small-scale farming as before, many households now have hundreds of chickens and dozens of pigs, including both native and crossbred native pigs with wild boars.

Watching the flocks of free-range chickens, black chickens, and black pigs frolicking on the flat ground, with a few piglets and young chickens disappearing and reappearing in the bushes, grazing on wild leaves in the forest, I listened as Huyen confided: “Yen Na has many advantages for getting rich! There are fields, forests…the important thing is whether the people are determined to get rich or not.” Regarding livestock and poultry farming, especially the increasingly popular specialty breeds, besides agriculture, the most sustainable long-term direction for the people of Yen Na remains animal husbandry.

In her heart, Huyen honestly said: “My family alone now has enough to eat and save, but to create a marketable area and make it known to many people, we need the cooperation of many households. Raising clean livestock and poultry, especially specialty products, means there's always demand. This year, by the 26th of Tet, I had to put up signs and send over 30 messages to sell out all the chickens before I could rest easy. Therefore, the biggest wish of Yen Na commune is to utilize the strengths of the land and the readily available, clean feed for livestock and poultry, by contributing our efforts and resources, especially supporting each other financially, to create a large-scale livestock farming area. Only then can people rise up and become rich.” As for those who have unrealistic dreams, chasing after illegal gold mining, not only violating the law but also endangering their lives, how can they get rich that way!

Driven by her desire to further enrich her family and hometown, Pay Thi Huyen expressed: “If the people of Bon village in particular, and the entire Yen Na commune in general, haven't yet shown much interest in livestock farming, in the coming time, my family will invest in expanding our farm to raise native chickens and black pigs. Seeing my family doing business in a sustainable way, many people will continue to follow our methods. Indeed, I really want to do something so that when people from all over think of Yen Na, they will think of a community with a certain brand. At least, even though it hasn't been embraced by many households yet, many people, when they think of Yen Na, can now think of native chickens and pigs.”

Vi Hoi