Every morning, Thuan, from Hai Dong commune, Hai Hau district, Nam Dinh (now Ninh Binh province), starts his day by checking his four swiftlet houses—three in Laos and one in his hometown—via AI-powered cameras and a remote management system complete with temperature, humidity, and sound sensors. Technology still accompanies the IT engineer, but this time it's to monitor the life of birds.

Thuan spent over six years working in IT in Ho Chi Minh City. In 2013, after getting married, he and his wife returned to their hometown to start their own company. They trained personnel, taught programming and web design, and sold products to foreign partners.

Earning billions of Vietnamese dong annually changed his life, allowing him to provide for his parents, who were farmers making rice wine and raising pigs, and to enjoy a more comfortable life.

Thuan (center, in black) and key staff members in 2013, when he was the director of a technology company. Photo: Dinh Thuan

Thuan (center, in black) and key staff members in 2013, when he was the director of a technology company. Photo: Dinh Thuan

But the more successful he became, the more restless he felt. "The work was too impersonal, too repetitive. I wanted to create something tangible, something I could touch and that would benefit others," he said.

In 2017, Thuan ventured into agriculture by experimenting with growing ginseng, a medicinal herb, on 13 hectares of land purchased with 10 billion Vietnamese dong saved from previous years. However, the plants only survived for two seasons before succumbing to pests and diseases. Thuan lost over one billion Vietnamese dong.

Looking at the withered ginseng garden, he stood silently. "Losing over a billion wasn't as painful as having my faith shaken," he said. But remembering his initial motivation, he continued to seek new directions in agriculture.

In 2019, during a visit to a farm in Thanh Hoa, Ninh Binh, he noticed a swiftlet farming model. Back home, seeing his house was near the sea, with many swiftlets flying around, he decided to give it a try.

To attract the birds, the first crucial step was selecting the right set of bird call recordings.

For two months, Thuan listened to and analyzed bird sounds day and night, to the point his wife banished him from the room because it was too noisy. Through extensive listening, he gradually learned to distinguish the sounds of mother birds, chicks asking for food, birds navigating, and birds calling for mates.

He used his IT knowledge to process and filter noise from hundreds of sound recordings, creating a set suitable for the birds in his hometown, with high-resolution quality (320 kbps).

Once he had the right sound recordings, he hung them in the swiftlet house and sat motionless all day, observing the birds' interactions. Any recordings that elicited no response or failed to attract the birds were discarded.

His first 200-square-meter swiftlet house became operational in 2020. Initially, the birds nested regularly, but by winter, the floor was covered with dead birds due to the cold. "I felt sorry for the loss and for the birds, realizing I had been careless in directly applying the model from the south without considering the northern climate," he recounted.

He sought help from experts and experienced swiftlet farmers, but no one could offer assistance. "They advised me to give up, saying swiftlet farming wouldn't work in cold regions. I knew I was the only one who could save myself," he said.

He embarked on a new challenge, monitoring the birds' reactions to different temperature levels to study their limits.

"He's the kind of person who, once he decides to do something, sees it through to the end. Sometimes he'd sit motionless in the swiftlet house all day just to observe, because even the slightest movement would startle the birds," said Vu Tien Duong, 27, one of his employees.

Thuan preparing to install hexagonal outdoor speakers for the swiftlet house in 2020. Photo: Dinh Thuan

Thuan preparing to install hexagonal outdoor speakers for the swiftlet house in 2020. Photo: Dinh Thuan

After two seasons of experimentation, Thuan determined that swiftlets thrive only at temperatures of at least 25–28°C; below 20°C, they lose body heat, their blood pressure drops, they become weak, and lose the energy to forage. Using his IT skills, he designed a system to automatically regulate temperature and humidity, adjusting to the specific weather conditions throughout the year.

In 2022, his economic model generated about 4 billion Vietnamese dong in revenue, half of which came from swiftlet farming. With his solid technical foundation, he decided to leave his IT job entirely to focus on farming full-time.

Two years prior, during a trip to Atapu province, Laos, Thuan discovered the area's hot and humid climate, ideal for swiftlets to live and nest. He built three more swiftlet houses there, hired locals to manage them, and shipped the raw materials back to Vietnam for processing.

Technology remains a crucial assistant, from managing cameras and remotely controlling the swiftlet houses to automating marketing and customer service.

He has now established a comprehensive farm model with three spatial layers: swiftlets in the air, aquatic life in the water, and medicinal herbs and fruit trees on the land, combined with ecotourism. Despite operating this large enterprise both domestically and internationally, he only needs to hire about 10 employees.

Thanks to the technological foundation, farm employees like Vu Tien Duong don't need to write advertisements or provide manual consultations; everything is automated. "We don't feel pressured about how to write content or advise customers because we have technology to support us," Duong shared.

Duong, who completed 9th grade, was trained in programming by Thuan when he worked at the technology company. Now working in agriculture with his former boss, he earns 12 million Vietnamese dong per month.

According to Nguyen Thanh Binh, former president of the Farmers' Association of Hai Dong commune, Hai Hau district, Thuan owns one of the best agricultural economic models in the area. "He's someone who thinks differently, acts differently, and dares to break new ground," Binh said.

In 2024, Thuan was honored as one of Vietnam's most outstanding farmers in the "Billionaire Farmers and Digital Transformation" category.

Leaving IT at the height of his career wasn't a step back for Thuan, but a necessary shift to rediscover his passion and happiness. While no longer an engineer, technology continues to be the foundation of his agricultural pursuits.

"I haven't left the profession; I've just chosen to use technology to create real value, in a world I can touch with my hands and feel with my heart," he said.

Pham Nga