Escaping from poverty with small loan

(VBSP News) The people we encountered were born in farming households, having disadvantaged living condition and being poor and near poor households of the locality. However, thanks to preferential loans of VBSP Quang Tri province, along with hard working, they have escaped from poverty, become owners of farms with high income, creating motivation for their neighbor.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh Chau (right) is discussing how to exploit rubber latex with local officials

Bring “hard soil” into blossom

"My hometown is in Lai An village, Gio My commune, Gio Linh district. At that time, I was just married, having no capital, farming land was limited so life was very difficult. In 1993, with the encouragement of the local authorities, my husband and I decided to leave our hometown for a new economic zone in Trang Ray village, Hai Thai commune. At that time, there were 5 couples in the commune choose to go." Nguyen Thi Minh Chau (born 1970) started the conversation with us. In the beginning, Trang Ray Village was a deserted area, vastly covered with thick trees and. Young families in this place set up with two empty hands. For shelter, they use timber to make a raft, using straw for roofing.

As arriving here, everyone determined to change the hill covered with reeds into fruitful land to help changing their life. "Many couples have left as cannot stand disadvantaged condition here. At that time, my husband told to think about initial goals to overcome difficulties” Chau recalled. Only within 1 year in the new zone, 4 out of 5 households coming from Gio My commune had returned to their home village.

With bare hands, every day the couple went to the reed forest, drugged every hoe to hard ground to make farming land. They left their cottage at dawn and come back at evening. Every night, they discussed that having capital is a must to escape from poverty. Receiving a preferential loan from VBSP, the family bought a cow to raise, year after year, they develop a herd of up to 50 cows.

When life was less difficult, they continued to borrow and expand land area to plant rubber, eucalyptus and melaleuca for economic development. After years of struggling  on the barren land, now her family has escaped from poverty (2007) and have a happy life.

At present, Chau's farm has 15 ha of rubber trees, 10ha of hybrid forest (5ha), 10 sind cows, 15 goats, 1 stag deer 13 pigs and 13 chickens provide chicken and meat for the market in the district. In addition, Chau's family also buys trucks to provide transportation and construction services for the local people. On average, each year, her family earns over 200 million dong.

Get out of poverty thanks to raising livestock

Previously, Ngo Duc Kha's family (born in 1979) was a poor household of An Mo village, Trieu Long commune, Trieu Phong district. His family has 7 people but only 2 main workers. The property left by his parents is only 2.5 acre of paddy field, each of which grows 2 crops a year, providing only enough food for the family.

He thought it is impossible to escape the poverty with just a few parcels of land, only raising livestock can help getting out of poverty. Then, he borrowed from VBSP, plus the money borrowed from relatives to build a solid livestock farm for breeding cows and sows.

At first, he raised 3 cows and 5 sows. Throughout the breeding process, he gradually accumulated experience and developed the herds, earned money to repay VBSP. In 2016, he continued to borrow from Job creation program to expand breeding facilities. The cage system was designed scientifically. He shared that his farm now has 15 sows, 30 pigs, and 50 baby pigs.

He provides large quantities of pork to the market in the province. His crossbred cow now have 5 baby cows, healthy and well grown. The source of food for cattle is from ​​vacant land around his own garden where he grow grass and sweet potatoes. In previous years, he collected over VND 100 million from his farm. Also thanks to raising livestock, he can raise three children and provide them with proper schooling.

"I intend to expand and build new breeding facilities, develop livestock and poultry raising. However, we also want to receive favorable assistance in terms of loans and product output. " Kha said.

Dare to think, dare to act

Phan Dung (born 1984) lives in Tan Xuan Village, Trieu Thuong Commune, Trieu Phong District, borrowed from VBSP to invest in a breeding farm. Overcoming many difficulties, now his farm has initial achievements. Dung's small house lies under the canopy of green melaleuca forests.

Mr. Dung said that his family has a tradition of raising and fishing shrimps of all kinds on the banks of the Thach Han River. Growing up, he worked as secretary of Tan Xuan Youth Union. Later, with the desire to build a career, he went to the South to work as a worker in an aqua-culture processing and trading company. At the same time, he knew and married a girl from Nghe An. When he had accumulated a small amount of money, he and his wife decided to take their children back home.

"Since the time working in Ho Chi Minh City, I have planned to return to my hometown to build a farm for raising livestock. Only by investing in new and scientific models can help escape from poverty. At first my wife was cautious because our work in Ho Chi Minh city was going well. If we go back to the countryside, we wouldn’t sure about the future. But after many time of persuasions, my wife agreed to return home from the beginning, "Dung said. With accumulated capital combined with preferential loans from VBSP, he bought breeds and invested to build porcupine and eel farm.

Initially, he raised 10 pairs of breeding porcupine and two eel cages. The porcupines were taken from Ninh Binh and the eel was available locally. At the beginning, he encountered many difficulties. In 2014 and 2015, his eel cages faced disease and die, porcupine price also fell. That year, he suffered heavy losses. "Thanks to encouragement and support of my relatives, I regained the confidence and motivation to keep trying.

 “In 2015, I borrowed capital from VBSP to raise deer and eels. After that, I continued to borrow money to buy wild boars for experimental farming. Many people said I was too risky. Thinking back, I feel really risky, "Dung said. At the end of 2015, Dung traveled and searched all over the country to buy deer, eels and wild boar. Learned from the past, this time he actively learn from experienced people and search documents in books and television and then learn by himself. In addition, he is also actively join in local technical training courses.

Throughout the process of raising and non-stop learning, he has learned much experience in breeding. To save money, Mr. Dung tries to feed wild boars, deer, eels ... with available vegetable sources and grows more vegetables and grass around his garden. Up to now, Mr. Dung's farm has a herd of seven dears (3 males to get horns and 4 female for breeding), 21 wild boars and 8 eel tanks. Each year he released 150 kg of baby eels to get 500 kg of eel meat. In addition to providing breeding, he also provides eel meat and pork to the market in the province.

"From the beginning of 2016 until now, my farm has started to operate effectively. In the first 6 months of 2017, I collected almost VND 70 million from the farm. In the near future, I intend to expand the farm and raise more species so it is very necessary to have supports on capital and market "Dung said. At present, Mr. Dung's model is a typical of poverty escape at locality. Many people in and out of the district have come to his breeding model to learn experience and search for consultancy and buying breeding.

                                                                                                                                                                                                   VBSP News