Young people in Nghe An border region escape poverty by raising porcupines

Thong Thu Commune is mainly inhabited by the Thai ethnic group, with an economy based on agricultural, forestry and small-scale livestock production. However, over-reliance on traditional models makes life difficult.

In 2013, through research in newspapers and television, Mr. Sam Van Binh (born in 1988) realized that the porcupine farming model had high economic potential and was suitable for local conditions. He discussed with his wife and decided to invest in porcupine farming. Initially, he bought a pair of porcupines for 5 million VND to raise. After 3 years of care, Mr. Binh's porcupine farming model began to bring about results.

Since then, every year, his family has sold 7-8 meat porcupines and 3-4 pairs of breeding porcupines. With the price of commercial porcupines fluctuating around 250,000 VND/kg, his family earns nearly 50 million VND per year; along with other income from agricultural and forestry production..., Mr. Sam Van Binh's family escaped poverty many years ago.

Not stopping there, the couple continued to expand the scale, in the family's cage there are currently about 36 hedgehogs, of which 2/3 are parent hedgehogs. The cage is solidly built, ensuring high, airy, avoiding humidity and stagnant water. The cage system is divided into small compartments, each compartment holds 2-3 hedgehogs, making it easier to care for the hedgehogs.

Ms. Sam Thi Huyen (Mr. Binh's wife) shared: "Hedgehogs are omnivorous, have high resistance, and rarely get sick, so they do not cost much to care for. Their food is mainly natural vegetables, tubers, and fruits such as pumpkin, banana, papaya, kohlrabi... which are easy to find and do not require cooking, helping to significantly reduce costs. We hope that the model will continue to grow, not only helping my family but also supporting many other households to have a stable income and improve their lives."

Regarding the life cycle, porcupines give birth to 2 litters per year, each litter has 1-3 babies. After about 10 months, the baby porcupines reach a weight of 9-10 kg and can be sold as commercial porcupines. In addition to selling porcupines for meat, his family also provides porcupine breeds to many households in the area, helping to spread the porcupine farming model more widely.

According to Mr. Luong Van Huan - Chairman of Thong Thu Commune People's Committee, this is a suitable direction for the locality, which needs to be replicated to help many other households escape poverty and develop the economy. However, because porcupines are wild animals, when raising them, households need to comply with regulations on wildlife protection and have a certificate from the Forest Protection Department.