After several unsuccessful attempts to raise pigs, buffaloes and cows, Nguyen Hong Minh who resides in Mui hamlet, Hoa Binh city’s Doc Lap commune decided to try breeding bamboo rat.

Nguyen Hong
Minh raises about 200 bamboo rats, bringing about high economic efficiency.
like other farmers in Doc Lap commune, Minh has cultivated
many types of crops and raised pigs, buffaloes, and cows but they failed to
deliver expected results.
Even when he harvested bumper crops, profit was low due to
plummeting price. He raised pigs for several years, but suffered from losses
due to diseases and high prices of animal feed.
Upon knowing that game meat is favoured by consumers, he
thought of raising bamboo rats as food for this type of rat is available in the
locality and brings about higher value.
At first Minh bought bamboo rats from people who hunt bamboo
rats in the wild and turned his old pig barn into a breeding facility. The
bamboo rats grew well, but after giving birth, the female ones often bit their
babies to death, reducing the number of offspring as well as economic
efficiency of farming.
Minh looked for information about the trade on the internet
and found out that many establishments had succeeded in raising wild bamboo
rats with proper licence. He decided to follow suit. After more than two years,
his bamboo rats grew healthily and rapidly multiplied. The offspring are sold
to breeding households in the locality and the mature ones for consumption.
Sometimes he did not have enough bamboo rats to sell.
Drawing lesson from failed attempts, he focused on raising
native bamboo rats and expanding the herd. His effort has been paid off as now
he has 200 bamboo rats.
According to Minh, it is easy to raise bamboo rats because
they eat sugarcane and bamboo only once a day and can reach a weight of 1.5-2kg
after 12 months of breeding.
With a selling price of 600.000 VND (24.5 USD) per kg, this
kind of rat brings higher economic value than raising chicken or pigs, he
said.
Dao Village’s honey – a product certified with a 3-star OCOP (One Commune One Product) rating by Thong Nhat Agricultural Cooperative in Dao Village (Hoa Binh City) – is highly regarded by consumers for its quality, richness, and variety in packaging. The distinctively sweet taste of Dao Village’s honey leaves a lasting impression on anyone who has tried it.
In alignment with Project No. 07-DA/TU, issued by the Hoa Binh provincial Party Committee on November 1, 2021, Lac Thuy district has actively promoted investment and supported the sustainable development of its industrial and handicraft sectors during the 2021–2025 period. Alongside this, the district has remained committed to preserving and revitalising traditional craft villages.
Located in the northern part of Lac Thuy district, with a temperate climate and fertile soil, Phu Thanh commune has great potential and advantages in growing tea. The long-standing experience, combined with strict adherence to organic farming practices in the tea gardens, ensures that the dried tea products from Phu Thanh and Lac Thuy as a whole are sold out immediately upon production, providing a stable and prosperous life for the local people.
Amid efforts to streamline the administrative apparatus, Hoa Binh province has intensified measures to address challenges in land clearance, resettlement support, and infrastructure investment, aiming to speed up the progress of key projects.
Hoa Binh province has posted an unprecedented economic growth rate of 12.76% in the first quarter of 2025, marking its highest quarterly performance to date and positioning it as the second fastest-growing locality in the country, trailing only Bac Giang province.
Under current regulations, products in the One Commune – One Product (OCOP) programme that are rated three stars or higher must undergo re-evaluation every three months. However, in reality, some of these products fail to consistently meet the required standards, raising concerns about the sustainability of their OCOP certification. This underscores the urgent need for producers to enhance product quality and gradually develop their OCOP products into strong, marketable brands.