(VOVworld) - For generations cows and the Mong ethnic people of the Ha Giang Karst Plateau have relied on each other to survive in this harsh land. Cows pull ploughs but the people of Meo Vac district realize that raising cattle for their meat is more profitable. The Meo Vac considered beef production a new economic spearhead of the district’s agricultural development.  

(Photo: hagiang.gov.vn)

In the last 10 years living conditions in Ha Giang province have improved, thanks in part to the breeding cow program. To be able to give a huge livestock herd enough qualified fodder, the Meo Vac administration has launched a grass growing program in every commune. Local people have made the most of roadsides, garden margins, and any other place that isn’t being farmed to grow grass.

Lau Mi Vu, chairman of the Farmers’ Association of Can Chu Phin commune in Meo Vac, said that they “must take advantage of September and October to grow grass because during the freezing months of November and December, even grass can’t survive the hoarfrost. People have to go to the forest to collect grass if they don’t have much land for grass cultivation. The grass is chopped, mixed with corncobs, and soaked in salt water until it softens. This mixture is cow feed. It’s how we ensure food supply for cows.”

In Can Chu Phin commune, 40 households raise and sell beef cows, earning high incomes. This has convinced local farmers and the communal authorities to further invest in raising cows for meat – an important way to escape poverty and hunger. Some are even getting rich.

Vu says they have been taught techniques for raising cows more efficiently and explains that “relevant agencies and the district’s unit in charge of agricultural development have jointly organized training courses to teach locals how to care for cattle. There are two courses each year. Cows are our biggest asset. If a household owns cows, their income is above average.”

A part of Meo Vac Cow market in Ha Giang (Photo: An Thanh Dat)

These days a household can earn 3,200 USD a year after expenses by raising cows for meat.

Sung Sai No’s family, one of the first households in Can Chu Phin to raise commodity cows, has become rich.

No said his family “always have between two and 6 cows. I want to make a quick profit. It’s very difficult to do either husbandry or farming in this land. Raising beef cows seems better. To produce high-quality beef cattle, you must spend a lot of time tending the cows, which eat, not just grass, but other kinds of food like wine dregs and maize”

Raising cows by a household in Pa Vi commune in Meo Vac district. (Photo: An Thanh Dat)

Raising beef cows has greatly reduced poverty in Meo Vac district. Sung Sai Tra, a resident of Can Chu Phin commune, told us that they “now use a machine to cut grass. The machine costs more than 220 USD. We have to go 2 or 3 kilometers to collect grass. My family raises a couple of cows. If we didn’t have a machine, it would take all morning to cut enough grass to feed the cows. In one day we use about 13 bunches of grass, each weighing 3 kg.”

Because cattle breeding is helping Mong ethnic people in Meo Vac to escape poverty, Ha Giang province is encouraging local people to expand the area of grass farming to 19,000 hectares by 2020. The province will offer preferential interest rates to farmers so they can build stalls and buy breed cows.