Developing the Ky Son black chicken brand.
With its unique topography and climate of the high mountainous region, along with long-standing farming practices, black chickens have been a traditional livestock of the people in Ky Son district. Leveraging this advantage, the district has developed a project to promote the black chicken brand.
Muong Long commune has a unique climate and topography, often likened to the "Sa Pa of Nghe An province," with an average annual temperature of around 20 degrees Celsius. In Muong Long 1 village, Mr. Vu Va Tu's family was previously impoverished because for many years their economy depended solely on a small plot of upland rice and raising black pigs. However, due to disease, the pigs grew poorly or died, leaving Mr. Tu's family in constant hardship. Mr. Vu Va Tu said that his family has now escaped poverty thanks to learning from the black chicken farming model implemented by the District Farmers' Association in Muong Long commune.
Elaborating further on this model, Mr. Vu Ba Xu, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Muong Long commune, said that in 2020, the District Farmers' Association implemented the Ky Son Black Chicken Brand Development Project in Muong Long commune for the period 2020-2023, involving 10 households. Initially, the pilot program was conducted with 3 households in 2020, then expanded to 7 other households. Each household received 400 native black chicken chicks and funding for feed for 3 months. In addition, officials from the District and Commune Farmers' Association regularly inspected and guided the families on care techniques and connected them with markets for their products.
The model has been successful, with households developing their black chicken flocks well, generating a relatively high income. Some households have expanded their flocks to 600-1,000 chickens, such as those of Mr. Vu Tong Po and Mr. Vu Y Sua… For example, Mr. Vu Tong Po, starting from the initial successful batch of chickens he received as support, has bred and expanded his flock from beautiful, healthy chickens, prioritizing purebred native black chickens. Mr. Po's household has continuously invested in developing his broiler flock from 300-700 chickens, at times reaching over 1,000 native black chickens, bringing in an income of 250-300 million VND per year. In addition, Mr. Po has borrowed more capital from the bank to expand the scale of his flock, expanding his services to sell both broiler chickens and native black chicken breeding stock, and simultaneously mobilizing the establishment of a Black Chicken Farmers' Association with 15 households (36 members). By 2021, one year after the project was implemented, Muong Long commune established the Muong Long Community Agriculture and Tourism Cooperative, helping local people promote and sell their distinctive agricultural products, with black chicken being the main product.
From the initial three families raising black chickens, people in Muong Long commune have seen the effectiveness of developing black chickens into a commercial product and have followed suit. Some households even invested in egg incubators to both breed their own black chickens and sell chicks to others, like the family of Mr. Cu Ba Co in Sa Lay village. When Mr. Vu Va Tu's family adopted these models, the commune's Farmers' Association supported them with low-interest loans to raise black chickens, helping the family escape poverty in 2023.
As one of the first three homestay owners in Muong Long commune, Ms. Lau Y Denh said that black chickens are mainly raised for family consumption and are an indispensable traditional dish during festivals and holidays of the local people. However, nowadays, Ms. Denh, like many other households in Muong Long commune, has additional income from raising and selling black chicken meat, especially since the locality has seen a boom in community tourism and ecotourism development.
"Black chicken is also an indispensable dish on the Y Dếnh homestay menu that we introduce to tourists, and it's very popular, especially the black chicken cooked with medicinal herbs, which not only has the distinctive flavor of the mountains and forests but is also good for health. From ancient times to the present day, this dish has always been used to quickly restore health for women after childbirth," said Ms. Lầu Y Dếnh.
According to Mr. Phan Van Manh, Chairman of the Ky Son District Farmers' Association, in 2020, the District Farmers' Association developed Project No. 10/DA-HNDH to develop black chicken farming in Muong Long commune. Initially, the District Farmers' Association distributed 1,000 chicks and provided technical guidance to 10 farming households in Muong Long commune, along with 2 egg incubators and 2 generators to help them breed the local chickens. Simultaneously, they collaborated with experts and relevant agencies to support the Muong Long Community Agriculture and Tourism Cooperative in successfully protecting the OCOP brand for black chickens.
Building on initial success and continuing through the project phases, the District Farmers' Association proposed to the Central Vietnam Farmers' Association for support in expanding the scale of black chicken farming towards bio-safe meat production in Muong Long commune, with a scale of 10 households/4,000 chicks; and proposed to the Provincial Farmers' Association for support in expanding the scale of black chicken farming in Ky Son district, specifically in Huoi Tu commune with a scale of 3 households/900 chicks, in Nam Can commune with a scale of 3 households/600 chicks, and in Na Loi commune with a scale of 3 households/600 chicks.
During the implementation of the project, the authorities and departments in Ky Son district also guided the people to develop the black chicken brand in a bio-safe manner, making it one of the district's key OCOP products.
To date, households benefiting from the Ky Son black chicken brand development project have maintained stable livestock herds and become a source of breeding stock and black chicken products for markets inside and outside the district. In particular, these households have collaborated with the Muong Long Community Agriculture and Tourism Cooperative to supply black chicken products to tourists and participated in introducing Ky Son black chicken OCOP products at numerous trade fairs inside and outside the province.