Making a fortune from two pairs of hedgehogs

(Baonghean) - Not only is he known for his role as the enthusiastic and dedicated Vice Chairman of the Fatherland Front Committee and Standing Committee member of the Farmers' Association of Quang Phong ward, Phan Chi Dung (from Dong block, Quang Phong ward, Thai Hoa town) is also known as an exemplary young person excelling in business.

Born in 1977 into a large, impoverished family, Dung spent his time working in various places, from the South to the North of Vietnam, and even as far away as Russia, but barely made ends meet. With the inherent nature of a young man "born in the village," he harbored a burning desire to become wealthy. This realization led him to decide to return to his hometown and start over from scratch.

Mr. Phan Chi Dung (right) introduces the breeding buffaloes he recently raised as a pilot project.

Without hesitation, after researching porcupine and bamboo rat farming models in the northern provinces, in early 2012, Phan Chi Dung mobilized his family, relatives, and borrowed 40 million VND from the bank to build cages and buy breeding stock. At that time, a pair of porcupines cost up to 30 million VND, so he could only afford to buy two pairs for breeding. However, after only a year, the porcupines began to reproduce, with a cycle of 5 months per litter, each litter producing 2-3 offspring.

In addition to raising porcupines, Mr. Dung also raises bamboo rats because the enclosures and breeding methods are not much different. Bamboo rats breed frequently, with 3-4 offspring per litter every 3 months, and some can weigh up to 2 kg. From the initial 5 breeding pairs of bamboo rats, his family has multiplied them to dozens.

Mr. Dung shared: “At any given time, there are always 5 breeding pairs of hedgehogs and more than 10 baby hedgehogs in the enclosure, not to mention 50 bamboo rats. If we don't count selling breeding hedgehogs and bamboo rats, and just sell hedgehog meat at 500,000 VND/kg and bamboo rats at 300,000 VND/kg, after deducting expenses, I earn nearly 200 million VND per year.”

Mr. Phan Chi Dung (left) introduces the livestock farm.

Not stopping there, noticing the abundant food sources for cattle in his hometown—where corn stalks and straw were often burned wastefully after harvesting—he decided to expand into breeding cattle. In early 2014, using his accumulated savings, he bought 10 breeding cows. To ensure a food supply, in addition to dedicating 1 hectare of land to growing grass, during the harvest season he collected discarded corn stalks and straw, dried them, and stored them as feed for the cows during the winter.

After just one year of care, the herd of cows gave birth to its first litter of nearly a dozen calves. Recently, in early October 2015, his family sold them, earning nearly 300 million VND. Notably, thanks to the sharing and support of experience and livestock farming techniques from Mr. Dung's family, in the Dong neighborhood alone, out of 143 households, 100 have developed grass cultivation for cattle farming, generating high incomes.

Mr. Dung further added: Currently, with the desire to expand the scale of livestock farming, both to further develop the family economy and to create job opportunities for local laborers, he boldly borrowed 300 million VND from the bank, and also rented 1.2 hectares of land from the ward to grow grass, continuing to shift towards breeding buffaloes. According to Mr. Dung's calculations, the initial investment of 15 breeding buffaloes will produce 15 calves after 1.5 years, with the current average price of 15 million VND/calf, meaning the investment will be recouped in just over 2 years…

Dang Nguyen