Remember in July 2019, in the midst of the African swine fever epidemic, suddenly in Thua Thien - Hue province appeared many safe pig farming models amid the epidemic storm. One of them was the model of Mr. Nguyen Van Lich in Trach Huu village, Phong Thu commune, Phong Dien district.

After more than 5 years of returning to the place where he witnessed that miracle, Mr. Lich's household has now become Phong Thu Thanh Tra Cooperative, developing a circular agricultural ecosystem on the white sand.

Talking about the epidemic, Director Nguyen Van Lich challenged: "Organically raised pigs can withstand all types of diseases such as cholera, blue ear disease, and in general, all kinds of diseases. From the time we tried to persuade only 3 households to participate in the organic pig farming model, now the entire Cooperative is combining livestock farming with crop farming according to the circular process of Que Lam Group.

“Each batch raises 50-70 pigs, rotating 2.5 batches each year, the income from pigs alone reaches about 320 million VND. In addition, my family also converted the mixed garden into an organic pomelo garden to take advantage of fertilizer from livestock, 200 trees bring in an income of 100-200 million VND. It is both economical and healthy, much better than farming and raising livestock like before,” Mr. Nguyen Van Lich excitedly said.

The most special issue is the epidemic. Director of Phong Thu Thanh Tra Cooperative said: "During the peak of African swine fever in 2019, pigs died like straw around here. Four households surrounded my family in the middle, all households were infected with the disease, but my family's model was not affected at all.

A few years later, it was the same, African cholera came and then blue ear disease. Scientists who researched the model said that the reason why organic pigs can withstand diseases is because the use of probiotics in animal feed has a positive effect in increasing the pigs' resistance and immunity to many diseases. On the other hand, the use of probiotics in the bedding in the barn partly forms a biosafety wall, minimizing many types of fungi and bacteria that cause other diseases.

Witnessing the miracle of overcoming African swine fever, the biosafety pig farming process of Que Lam Group was then strongly replicated in many localities across the country. From the North Central provinces such as Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Thua Thien - Hue to the Northern provinces such as Vinh Phuc, Lai Chau, Son La, the Southern provinces such as Dong Nai, Soc Trang, Dong Thap...

Implementing the direction of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in 2024, the National Agricultural Extension Center will coordinate with Que Lam Group to deploy key models in the provinces of Vinh Phuc, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, and Thua Thien - Hue. The general objective of the project is to build an organic pig farming area to ensure biosafety, treat livestock waste, improve meat product quality and economic efficiency, and build a linkage chain.

The specific goal is to build a pig farming model that meets over 70% of organic, biosafety, and closed-loop criteria using a livestock waste treatment process, using biological products as organic fertilizers for growing corn, rice, soybeans, etc.

With a scale of 9,000 pigs, in which Thua Thien - Hue province raises 800 pigs/10 households, Vinh Phuc 800 pigs/10 households, Ha Tinh 800 pigs/10 households, Quang Binh 600 pigs/6 households, the models have achieved many positive results such as: Ability to increase pig body weight by more than 700g/pig/day; feed consumption rate on weight less than 2.6kg; 100% of livestock facilities participating in the model have waste treated as fertilizer for crops; economic efficiency increased by more than 10% compared to mass farming...

As the first person in Bo Ly commune, Tam Dao district (Vinh Phuc province) to participate in the model, Mr. Nang Van Hiep in Trai Mai village concluded: At first, the family only dared to pilot raising a herd of 20 pigs, but after only the first batch, the couple decided to convert the entire barn system with a scale of about 600 pigs to an organic, biosafety farming process.

“The most obvious difference is the issue of disease safety. Bo Ly is a highland commune, the lives of more than 1,200 households of the San Diu ethnic group mainly depend on small-scale farming and livestock farming. Unfortunately, livestock farming in Bo Ly has always faced many difficulties in terms of environment and disease safety. When my family switched from traditional farming to organic farming, the effectiveness of biosafety was immediately evident. Although the surrounding people still suffered from African swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease, our family model was not affected. All 600 pigs of the family were still safe,” said Mr. Nang Van Hiep.

In addition to the environmental story, the organic pig farming model of Mr. Hiep and his wife also uses biological products in livestock farming, treated waste is used to fertilize the 600 custard apple garden, 80 grapefruit trees and 70 sapodilla trees that are being harvested. This is a closed, circular agricultural model, with an average income from pig farming of 1.5 to 2 million VND/pig. In addition, it is possible to take advantage of fertilizer sources, helping to reduce the cost of cultivation.

“The best thing about raising pigs now is that we don’t have to worry about losing our neighborhood ties because of pollution. Seeing my family’s success, people in the commune come to learn and gradually shift from traditional farming to organic, biosafety farming,” said the first person to raise pigs organically in this highland area.

Reporting to the working group of the National Agricultural Extension Center recently, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Duong, Director of the Vinh Phuc Provincial Agricultural Extension Center analyzed: All organic and biosafety livestock models in Vinh Phuc are supplied with feed produced by Que Lam Group using raw materials from the organic farming production chain, supplemented with microbiological preparations. These are livestock feed products without antibiotics, chemicals, lean meat additives, colorants, or preservatives during the production and packaging process.

Microbiological products from Japanese microbiological technology used in cultivation and livestock breeding have so far been successful in raising pigs, chickens and cows in a household model without odors, without bathing water or flushing cages, animals are resistant to diseases and create by-products of microbial organic fertilizers that can be used immediately for cultivation, creating a circular agriculture using microbiological technology.

Using microbial products as biological bedding not only ensures the goal of thoroughly treating waste in pig farming, ensuring the farming environment, but also reuses bedding as fertilizer for crops, vegetables... instead of before, pig farming treated waste with a biogas system, not only did the waste not be thoroughly treated but also wasted fertilizer for crops.

This is a very good livestock model, very suitable for the current livestock situation, especially in the context of African swine fever and market fluctuations.