Quy Chau creates sustainable livelihoods from native plants and animals.

High income from the famous black pigs and Quy ducks.

Mr. Luong Van Phi's farm in Lien Ban village, Chau Thang commune, lies peacefully amidst the surrounding forests, mountains, ravines, and streams. Even in the August sun, Mr. Phi's small hut beside a small stream remains cool thanks to the shade provided by the trees.

Behind the hut, Mr. Phi dug a fish pond connected to a stream. On the surface of the pond, he raises a flock of nearly 300 Quỳ breed ducks, over a month old. His family received government support for the breeding stock, feed, and care techniques for these 300 Quỳ breed ducks.

“Previously, I also raised ducks, but only a few for my family's needs. Moreover, the ducklings were bought haphazardly from the market, not from the original, native Quy breed that the District Agricultural Service Center provides now. With support in terms of breeding stock, feed, and guidance on care from agricultural officials, we feel very secure and happy to see a stable income from raising this local specialty breed. With abundant natural food sources and the ducks adapting well to the environment here, I can earn a decent income in about four months,” Mr. Phi confided.

Following Mr. Luong Van Phi's statement, Ms. Le My Trang, Director of the Agricultural Services Center of Quy Chau district, said that Mr. Phi is one of 10 households that have received support in the form of ducklings, along with one month's worth of feed and vaccinations for the ducks. Each household received 300 ducklings of the purebred Quy Chau native breed.

For example, the households of Mr. Sam Van Thieu and Mr. Lu Van Tien in Hoa Tien 1 village, Chau Tien commune, each received 150 Quy breed ducklings as support, funded by the district budget under the 2022 food safety and hygiene program. With technical guidance and care from the villagers, after more than 4 months of raising, they harvested and sold the ducks at an average price of 300,000 VND per duck. Following the regulation requiring farmers to maintain a staggered breeding cycle, the households used the money from selling the ducks to buy ducklings to continue restocking their flocks.

With this approach, many households in Chau Tien commune, as well as other communes receiving support, have achieved a stable income. With each household raising 150-300 pigs, they earn over 20 million VND per batch, providing both high income and capital for sustainable livestock farming.

Besides restoring, preserving the genetic resources, and expanding the breeding of Quy Chau Muscovy ducks, the people of Quy Chau district also maintain the breeding of the indigenous black pig breed. This helps utilize the abundant local feed resources while enabling households to escape poverty and become wealthy from this distinctive local breed. Furthermore, black pig meat is a key ingredient determining the distinctive quality of Quy Chau district's OCOP products such as smoked pork, sausages, and cured meats.

Mr. Lo Van Cuong, from Na Pua village, Chau Nga commune, said that due to its geographical location quite far from the district center, people in Chau Nga commune invest in livestock farming on a household scale, rotating breeding cycles rather than investing on a large scale. Mr. Cuong's family, like other households, raises 5-7 native black pigs. The pigs' feed mainly consists of plants, vegetables, and tubers grown in their home gardens, such as bananas, sweet potato leaves, cassava, combined with ground and fermented elephant grass stalks and corn stalks… so with a little effort, they can have enough feed to raise the pigs. By raising both fattening pigs and breeding sows, Mr. Cuong's family earns tens of millions of dong annually from raising black pigs.

Year-round income from bamboo

In Quy Chau district, with its unique natural conditions, each household is guided to create sustainable livelihoods from raising livestock and cultivating native plants and animals, often combined with farming in the form of integrated family farms, or integrated forest-garden farms.
For example, Mr. Luong Van Phi's household in Lien Ban village, Chau Thang commune. Besides raising 300 Quy breed ducks and 4 local yellow cows, Mr. Phi also cultivates and protects over 2 hectares of bamboo. The bamboo forest serves as both feed for the cows and provides shelter for his house and fields during storms and floods, protecting them from erosion and landslides. Mr. Phi explained that bamboo is easy to care for and provides year-round income. He harvests the bamboo in a staggered manner, clearing about 0.5 hectares at a time, earning an average of 10 million VND.

“Fresh bamboo is purchased by businesses at a price of 12,000 - 13,000 VND per 10 kg. Dried bamboo fetches a higher price, around 38,000 - 40,000 VND per 10 kg, so we locals often take advantage of the opportunity to process it for sale as dried bamboo. After cutting the bamboo, people scrape off the thin green outer layer called 'bamboo essence,' cut it into sections according to the size ordered by the businesses, split it into smaller pieces, and dry it,” Mr. Phi shared.

In each bamboo forest area, when harvesting, people select and cut down old trees, leaving the young ones and protecting the bamboo shoots. On average, bamboo forests begin to yield harvests year-round after 2 years. Each household cultivating 1 hectare can earn approximately 15-20 million VND per harvest. The entire Chau Thang commune has about 110 hectares of bamboo allocated to local people for cultivation and protection, bringing significant economic benefits to the people and contributing to poverty reduction in the area.

Scaling up sustainable livelihood models

Preserving genetic resources, raising Quy Chau Muscovy ducks, raising local black pigs, or planting and protecting bamboo forests… are some of the contents of Project No. 06 dated November 24, 2020, of the Quy Chau District Party Committee on the development of key agricultural products in the 2020-2025 period, and Decision No. 1363 dated December 15, 2020, of the Quy Chau District People's Committee.

Promoting the development of specialty livestock breeds such as black pigs and Quy Chau Muscovy ducks is one of the contents of the program to develop commercial livestock farming in a semi-industrial, concentrated manner, encouraging the expansion of farm and household production scale associated with the hill and garden economy that the Quy Chau District People's Committee is implementing. In particular, emphasis is placed on developing high-economic-value livestock such as local pigs and Quy Chau Muscovy ducks, and replicating models of dairy and beef cattle farming with new breeds (3B cattle, high-quality cattle). As a result, livestock and poultry in Quy Chau district are now stably recovering after the epidemic, with an average annual output of 4,773 tons of live meat for slaughter.

Quỳ Châu District currently maintains and develops 10,000 Muscovy ducks across 9 communes (excluding Châu Thắng, Châu Bính, and Tân Lạc town). This is concentrated in communes with favorable conditions such as Châu Tiến, Châu Hạnh, Châu Bình, and Diên Lãm, based on the selection of existing duck flocks in the area and the genetic lineage of Quỳ Châu Muscovy ducks preserved at the Institute of Animal Husbandry. The district is also restoring and sustainably developing 958.9 hectares of natural bamboo and reed forests to ensure a supply of materials for the incense production industry and traditional craft villages in community tourism destinations.

Mr. Luong Tri Dung, Head of the Agriculture and Rural Development Department of Quy Chau district, said that in the coming time, Quy Chau will continue to focus on implementing agricultural, forestry, and fisheries production projects; continue to restructure agricultural and forestry production rationally, promote mechanization and apply scientific and technological advancements to production. Preserve and develop native timber trees and medicinal plants under the forest canopy, build models for growing medicinal plants, and gradually form medicinal plant growing areas to increase income per unit area. Focus on processing forest products, mastering high-quality plant and animal breeds, creating sustainable livelihoods for people, and becoming a key economic sector in the locality.