Overcoming adversity to become wealthy.

Born into a farming family in the impoverished village of My Loi, Thanh Vinh commune, like many other young people, Truong Van Minh got married and moved out in 2008 at the age of 18. In 2010, the couple had their first daughter, and they thought their married life would be fulfilling, but unexpectedly, he fell ill and became bedridden. All the family's accumulated savings and loans from relatives and friends were poured into his treatment. Unable to bear the hardship, his wife left, abandoning their young child for him to care for. With no money, debt, illness, and a young child, his life seemed almost hopeless. Minh shared: "At that time, my life was almost at a dead end, but thinking of my child, I persevered."

The spacious house of Mr. Truong Van Minh's family in My Loi village, Thanh Vinh commune, is currently under construction.

Unwilling to accept his fate, Minh started over on the 2 hectares of hillside land inherited from his parents. However, due to poor health and lack of investment capital, in the early years, the harvest from the garden was only enough to cover the daily living expenses for him and his father. A stroke of luck came in 2017 when his family received a breeding cow as part of a project under the National Target Program for Sustainable Poverty Reduction, along with capital from local poverty reduction support programs. He converted the 2 hectares of unproductive sugarcane land to lemongrass cultivation. From the initial breeding cow, he increased his herd. From then on, his family's income became more consistent, allowing him to save some money to pay off debts.

In 2022, after learning and receiving training through vocational courses organized by the People's Committee of Thanh Vinh commune (formerly) in coordination with other units, Mr. Minh began building a model for breeding spotted deer and harvesting antlers. This is a sustainable economic model, with low risk and easy to care for if the right techniques are applied. He sold his cattle herd, combined with loans and local support, to invest in barns and buy a pair of breeding deer. Besides caring for the deer, Mr. Minh also researched and arranged the barn system in a reasonable, scientific, airy, and hygienic way, ensuring the deer thrive and preventing diseases. From the initial pair of breeding deer, his family's deer herd now has 7 animals. Mr. Minh said: "On average, each adult deer yields a profit of 10-15 million VND from selling fresh antlers. In addition, if we process the antlers into health-supporting products, the income will increase even more." Besides selling fresh deer antlers, Mr. Minh also breeds deer to produce offspring for sale. After the fawns are 3-4 months old, they can be sold for 20-25 million VND per male deer and 15-20 million VND per female deer.

Diligence, perseverance, a thirst for knowledge, and a willingness to think outside the box and take risks have helped Minh's family gradually escape poverty, stabilize their lives, and become wealthy. Although initially facing many difficulties, Minh has achieved initial success with his integrated economic model of deer farming and lemongrass cultivation, generating an income of over 100 million VND per year.

With his savings, in June 2025, he invested over 1 billion VND to build a spacious house. “Although I needed a lot of capital to expand my livestock farming and production, I saved up to build a house so my daughter and I would have a stable place to live. My greatest joy right now is that my daughter is well-behaved, excels in her studies, and is well-liked by her friends and teachers,” Minh happily shared.

With his spirit of self-reliance and determination, Mr. Truong Van Minh deserves to be considered a prime example of family economic development in the locality. His story of overcoming difficulties and escaping poverty to become wealthy is also an inspiration for young people and farming households to continuously strive and build a prosperous life through their own labor.

Text and photos: Minh Khanh

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/vuot-len-nghich-canh-de-lam-giau-270973.htm