Mr. Lich raised three cows to eat rotten fruit and grass from his garden.

Pomelo garden by the O Lau river

The garden is not far from National Highway 1A, but we had a hard time getting to the right address in Trach Huu village (Phong Dien ward). Meeting the owner, Mr. Nguyen Van Lich, who is nearly 70 years old, with a cheerful smile welcoming guests, our fatigue seemed to disappear.

The pomelo garden is only about 1 hectare, but thanks to the way it is arranged, it looks spacious. More than 200 pomelo trees, including more than 40 20-year-old trees, are planted straight and deep. Between the pomelo trees, Mr. Lich planted bananas to "take short-term to support long-term" under an economic contract with Que Lam Joint Stock Company (abbreviated as Que Lam). Thanks to the alluvium of the O Lau River, the pomelo grows quite well; the quality and yield can be compared to Nguyet Bieu or Luong Quan pomelos.

In the corner of the garden, there is also a cowshed with 3 cows. The cowshed is covered with rice husks to ensure warmth for the cattle and to have plenty of manure. And, along with the F4 pig pen, not far from the pomelo garden, it ensures a source of organic fertilizer for Mr. Lich to ensure a closed cycle of cultivation and livestock farming, "not wasting anything". Organic fertilizer used for fertilizing plants is made according to the formula of manure combined with Trichoderma, a type of decomposing agent that treats fungal diseases, ensuring that plants grow naturally and have no bad smell.

In 2006 - when he was the Chairman of Phong Thu Commune People's Committee, Mr. Lich boldly rented 1 hectare of land along the O Lau River, which was originally a bamboo forest, to grow pomelos. To create a breakthrough and achieve economic efficiency, we had to wait 12 years later - when Mr. Lich retired and the "fateful relationship" with Que Lam was formed.

By participating in training courses and directly visiting many economic models of Que Lam Group, Mr. Lich became familiar with and passionate about the concepts of organic agriculture and closed-loop economy. It is also because he is not afraid to change to a closed-loop livestock-growing economic complex model with pomelo trees and pigs that he has a business that is a model agricultural production model in Hue today.

Organic agriculture and the circular economy

Along with renovating the pomelo garden, starting in 2018, Mr. Lich renovated the old-style barn and cooperated with Que Lam to raise organic pigs. Starting with only 3 sows, after 2 years of obvious economic efficiency, Mr. Lich "played big", investing 1 billion VND to complete the barn system, increasing the total herd to 8 sows and raising 2 more sows.

Mr. Lich also campaigned to establish the Phong Thu Thanh Tra Cooperative, of which he is the director, with 20 hectares, gathering 15 elderly farmers in Trach Huu village to participate in the circular economic organic agricultural value chain. Recently, on August 2, 2025, he and Que Lam launched the Que Lam Phong Dien organic store, a closed chain from production to consumption of clean agricultural products.

Mr. Lich confided: “When I was the Chairman of Phong Thu Commune People's Committee, when I heard the instructions from above to select households to cooperate with businesses in organic agriculture and circular agriculture, everything was very vague. There is no such thing as household livestock farming without bad smell, without environmental pollution, without disease... Does anyone know that farming and livestock farming is a closed model, the input of one is the output of the other...”.

After 8 years of operating a closed economic model, Mr. Lich has an income of 300 million VND per year from pomelos. Every year, Mr. Lich's pig farm has a net profit of 100 million VND; forming a value chain of Que Lam organic beef with an annual revenue of 20 million VND. The newly opened store creates jobs for 3-4 people with an income of 6-7 million VND per month. The total annual income of Phong Thu pomelo cooperative reaches over 1 billion VND.

With a closed farming and livestock process, every year, he creates more than 34 tons of disease-free organic microbial fertilizer on-site to fertilize crops. Also thanks to the available source of organic microbial fertilizer from livestock and the use of microbial products from Que Lam Group, pomelo products are sold at 20% higher than the market price.

The highlight of the Que Lam livestock brand is the strict management process and saying no to chemicals; saving water resources; no bad smell, no exhaust fumes, no waste... That is also the reason why Mr. Nguyen Van Lich, when saying goodbye to us, promised to open more eco -tourism to become a model of economic complex of livestock - farming - tourism in the near future.

Article and photos: Phuoc Ly

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/kinh-te/nong-nghiep-nong-thon/bat-ngo-voi-mo-hinh-khong-bo-thu-gi-158292.html