Becoming an 'outstanding Vietnamese farmer' thanks to new thinking and different actions on difficult land

Mr. Pham Viet Duc's closed pig farm. Photo: TP

Born into a family of farmers, and experiencing the hardships of “muddy hands and feet”, Pham Viet Duc (born in 1983 in Dong Van commune, Thanh Chuong district) tried his best to study. After graduating from university, Duc went to Dong Nai to start a business in animal feed and veterinary medicine.

Dong Nai - considered the "capital" of pig farming in the country has helped Duc do business smoothly with a good income; at the same time, it has opened Duc's vision and thinking about modern, closed, and bio-safe livestock farming. Working there also helped Duc get in touch with livestock billionaires, farmers with billion-dollar farms, farmers who wear suits, shiny leather shoes, and expensive cars thanks to modern, automated livestock farming technology... This has sparked in Duc the idea of ​​getting rich from livestock farming.

Being proactive about breeds, feed, and circulation in livestock farming, and safely isolating diseases are the keys to Mr. Duc's success. Photo: TP

Duc said: “Dong Nai has a small land area and a large population, so it is not easy to build a large-scale livestock farm. The initial investment capital is quite high. Meanwhile, in my hometown Thanh Chuong, the land is vast, many areas are separated from residential areas, so ensuring disease safety and a favorable livestock farming environment is very favorable. I decided to return to my hometown to dream of getting rich from raising pigs!…”.

Duc traveled to Thanh Huong - dozens of kilometers from his hometown Dong Van commune and the district center - to rent land to build a farm. With a little capital in hand, Duc borrowed an additional 7 billion VND, spending all of it on building barns, bringing electricity and water to serve the livestock. "At that time, no matter what people said, I believed in myself, with my determination...", Duc said.

His farm creates jobs for dozens of local workers, including many livestock engineers with salaries of 15-20 million VND/month. Photo: TP

With the knowledge and experience gained, Duc invested in building closed barns with heating systems in winter, installing ventilation fans and radiators in summer to ensure temperatures suitable for the harsh weather conditions of the locality.

To save labor, he invested in an automatic feeding and drinking system; installed cameras to easily monitor the health of the pigs... At the same time, he divided the barn system into different areas: sow area, gilt area and pork area. With 500 sows, each year he supplies his pig farm with about 5,000 piglets.

“The initial investment is quite expensive, but I have more control over the breeding process. For example, being proactive about the breed helps save initial costs, especially the health of the pigs is always guaranteed, the pigs grow well, and diseases are limited,” Duc said.

Mr. Pham Viet Duc at the Ceremony to honor outstanding Vietnamese farmers in 2023. Photo: NVCC

Raising livestock on a large scale, in addition to linking with animal feed companies to get feed at wholesale prices, Duc also connects and seeks outlets for 750 tons of pigs for sale. At the same time, he increases the processing of pork products such as floss, ham, etc. to supply the market with an annual output of about 50 tons. Therefore, although pork prices sometimes go up and down according to market fluctuations and there are difficult times due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the output for pigs on the farm is still not much affected, with stable consumption.

Pham Viet Duc's farm is also a pioneer model in Thanh Chuong district in circular economy - the output of one process is the input of another. Specifically, to take advantage of by-products in livestock farming, he has structured his farm to raise 3,000 chickens, 1.5 hectares of fish ponds and 50 hectares of raw acacia.

He said: “Currently, my family’s pig farm has applied a biological farming process that ensures food safety standards. Closed farming means no disease outbreaks and ensures environmental hygiene criteria, reduces costs in farming and increases profits. On the other hand, I hired a specialized engineer in farming to work for the farm with a salary of 22 million VND/month.

In my own experience, the decisive factor for success or failure in livestock farming is disease safety. Good disease prevention, from disease-free breeds, clean livestock to remote disease prevention, needs to be focused on. Next is proactive output; the second is taking advantage of by-products in livestock farming, using short-term to support long-term, creating a sustainable rotation.

Thanks to "thinking new and doing different" has helped farmer Pham Viet Duc become a farmer billionaire. Photo: NVCC

After many years of development, up to now, Pham Viet Duc's farm has a profit after deducting expenses of about 3-5 billion VND/year; creating regular jobs for 12 workers with a salary of 6-8 million VND/month and dozens of seasonal workers. In addition to economic development, Duc himself and his family have always actively contributed human and financial resources to build new rural areas in the locality. He was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee for the period 2016 - 2020; and is one of the 100 outstanding Vietnamese farmers in 2023 voted by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union.

Source: https://baonghean.vn/thanh-nong-dan-xuat-sac-viet-nam-nho-nghi-moi-lam-khac-tren-dat-kho-post284429.html