Specialty farming giving high profit

​Currently, localities are replicating the model of raising specialty with high economic value such as: herb pigs, wild boars, herb chickens, wild chickens, pheasants, pigeons... Among them, some farming models have attracted cooperatives and businesses to invest in chain links.

Pigeon farming model at Phong Phu farm, Thanh Son commune, Tan Phu district

Accordingly, a number of products have been certified OCOP (one product per commune), supplied to the large supermarket system with sustainable output, not as spontaneous as before.

Forming a trend of raising specialties

In the past few years, not only eateries, restaurants, and party services in urban areas have increased the demand for ordering specialty products to diversify dishes to serve guests. Currently, the trend of eco-tourism areas is developing strongly, so the demand for ornamental birds as well as specialties for tourists in the countryside is also increasing.

Accordingly, the movement of raising specialties for good profit such as: herb pigs, wild chickens, pheasants, pigeons ... are increasingly attracting the attention of farmers.

Phong Phu Ecological Service Trading Co., Ltd (Thanh Son Commune, Tan Phu District) is an economic model with high efficiency in the locality. This business has more than 5 years of farming investment into raise and supply specialties such as wild chickens, pheasants, pigeons... associated with ecotourism business. Mr. Nguyen Thanh Phong, Director of Phong Phu Ecological Service Trading Co., Ltd said that the business now invests in raising thousands of commercial pheasants per time from a small scale of the company.

Talking about the effectiveness of the specialty farming model, Mr. Phong compared, a household that invests in raising a few dozen or a few hundred pheasants has the same income as raising a few thousand poultry. The benefit of a specialty farming model is that farmers can take advantage of small yards and gardens instead of large ones. Farmers also do not worry about environmental pollution. According to Mr. Phong: “I raised these specialties at the first time, I also had to bargain, the herd lost a lot due to less experience in caring. Gradually grasping the secret, raising specialties is very easy because wild birds have good resistance, and there are few epidemics like raising poultry. In addition to rice and corns, farmers can take advantage of more sources of vegetable and grass that are available in the wild, so the cost of feed is not too high."

With the same opinion, Mr. Tran Tuan Khanh, Director of Thanh Mai Co., Ltd who invested in a chain of commercial pheasant raising with a scale of thousands of pheasants per time in Xuan Phu commune (Xuan Loc district) comments: "Pheasants are easy to raise, get less disease, eat same food of chicken but bring many times higher economic value. Thanks to signing a contract to supply pheasant meat and eggs to a large supermarket system, I established a company and expanded the farming scale." Currently, this enterprise is investing in specialty production and supply, providing technical guidance on raising and consuming products for many local farmers because the supply is not enough for demand.​

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Commercial pheasant farm at Thanh Mai Co., Ltd in Xuan Phu commune (Xuan Loc district)

Need to build a chain of links

Specialty plants and animals are high-priced products that are picky about customers. In the past, many localities of Dong Nai had a movement to raise herb chickens because this model gave high profits. Over time, many farmers with small scale quitted their jobs because this specialty was not easily sold to the market like other poultry species. Accordingly, in order for the model of raising and growing specialties have higher profit, people should not massively invest in farming and planting according to the movement, but must enter the chain of linking from production to consumption.

Ms. Cao Thi Ten, Director of Phu Ngoc Agricultural Cooperative (Dinh Quan district) share that, in order to product of herb chicken meat and eggs have sustainable output, the cooperative has invested in a system of large-scale herb chicken farm of thousands of chickens; standardize the closed production process from breeding to slaughtering, packaging to meet OCOP by the province. As a result, the cooperative becomes a supplier to supermarkets and chains of clean food stores. According to Ms. Ten: "Despite providing specialties, farmers must calculate that the product has a reasonable price to expand the consumption channels"

Sharing the same opinion, Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong, Director of Huong Vinh Cuu One Member Co., Ltd (Vinh Cuu district), says that a few years ago, the business was very interested in investing in research into herbal pig raising techniques. Herbal pork was very well received by consumers because the meat product was delicious and safe. The enterprise does not have difficulties in producing delicious meat but output for products because the cost to make this specialty meat is much higher than the cost from regular pork. After the Covid-19 epidemic, the business was forced to stop providing this specialty because the consumption market for this high-priced specialty is currently very low. The company is currently looking for a niche market for this product and researching solutions to reduce the production cost of this specialty meat. The enterprise is organizing to grow herbs itself at the farm; more complete the closed chain from breeding to slaughter, flexible in distribution to the market.​