Family incident creates opportunity for clean agriculture
The farm specializing in producing clean food of more than 1 hectare of Mr. Le Phu Thanh's family (born in 1987) in the fields of Hoang Dao commune, Hoang Hoa district, Thanh Hoa province. Mr. Thanh said that he and his wife came to the agricultural industry by chance.
Mr. Thanh and Ms. Nguyen Thi Hao both studied at Hanoi University of Industry and Economics. In 2011, after graduating, they worked in Nam Dinh province and then got married.
In 2018, Ms. Hao gave birth to her second child, but the baby was premature, so Mr. Thanh and his wife had to quit their jobs, go to the Central Maternity Hospital to take care of the baby, and then move back to their hometown. During his time in the countryside, unable to find a suitable job, Mr. Thanh spent all his capital, borrowed from friends to rent a 1,500m2 greenhouse in Quang Thinh ward, Thanh Hoa city to grow vegetables.
But after only a short time of operation, the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, and Mr. Thanh failed in his first business venture in his hometown. “That time, I lost more than 200 million VND, all my assets were considered to have gone down the drain,” Mr. Thanh said.
It seemed that failure would change Thanh’s mind. But the years of “muddy feet and muddy hands” had transformed him from a technical expert into a “farmer”.
In 2019, Mr. Thanh decided to rent more than 1 hectare of barren, difficult-to-cultivate land from people in Hoang Dao commune, Hoang Hoa district to grow vegetables and crops in a natural way (without using pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, etc.).
According to Mr. Thanh, when he decided to return to his hometown to do farming, many relatives in his family discouraged and opposed him. There was even a time when his parents almost disowned him.
“My parents have gone through many hard days as farmers to raise their children. So when they saw my husband and I return to the countryside to work on the fields, they were quite surprised and did not want me to follow this path. Once, when they could not persuade me, my father almost disowned me. But seeing that I was so passionate, they had no other choice,” Thanh confided.
A unique way to grow vegetables, using grass as a biological fence
The farm owner said that the land he rented was a barren field, dry in the dry season and flooded in the rainy season. The early days of starting his business were extremely difficult for him. For many months, the couple stayed up late and woke up early to improve the land, while also researching and learning about organic farming models.
After careful research, Mr. Thanh started growing cucumbers, vegetables, and fruits according to the season.
In no time, the barren land was covered with vegetable beds by Thanh and his wife. What is special is that in the farm yard, Thanh also planted grass as a biological fence. He said that sometimes when looking at the field full of weeds, the locals thought he was "crazy" and did not know how to grow crops.
“I want my products to be safe for consumers. That’s why I say no to pesticides and plant protection drugs in agricultural production,” said Mr. Thanh.
The farm owner shared that planting biological fences with weeds is to create shelter for snakes, birds, mice, and bugs to thrive. These animals are beneficial in destroying harmful insects and pests. “There is no need to use chemicals, mice and birds will help reduce pests. However, when there are too many pests, my wife and I have to go out to the garden to catch each worm,” said Mr. Thanh.
According to Mr. Thanh, clean farming is difficult, but finding a market is even more difficult. At first, Mr. Thanh and his wife had to take turns bringing vegetables to the market to sell, but very few people were interested. Besides, the production of safe vegetables in the organic direction only meets the needs of people in the region and Thanh Hoa city, and cannot become a large-scale commodity like "industrial" vegetable growing.
“At first, customers did not like the vegetables because they were eaten by worms. After sitting at the market all day and no one bought them, my wife and I had to take the bunch of vegetables everywhere to offer them and sell them cheaply to cut our losses,” Thanh shared.
Learning from experience, Thanh and his wife discussed filming a clip about the stages of growing and cultivating clean vegetables, and at the same time published a table of standards and quality of vegetables certified by inspection agencies on social networking platforms. After more than 2 years, up to now, his family's clean vegetable product brand has received much attention and acceptance.
Mr. Thanh said that his main market is currently people in Thanh Hoa city and Hanoi. In addition, Mr. Thanh and his wife also joined a group of young people doing organic farming in Thanh Hoa to learn about clean farming, organic farming, and how to market and promote products on digital platforms.
“Although this is just the beginning, my wife and I earn more than 100 million VND each year. Compared to other farms, this revenue is not significant, but I am happy that my family's clean agricultural products have been welcomed and trusted by the people. Until now, after many hardships, I have realized that only being a farmer is suitable for me,” said Mr. Thanh.
The farm owner also revealed that in the coming time, in addition to growing seasonal vegetables, he will develop key crops to stabilize output and expand the market.
Mr. Le Ba Quyet, Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Hoang Hoa district, said that in the past few years, the organic agricultural model in the area has been creating good economic efficiency. Typically, some communes of Hoang Dao, Hoang Giang...
According to Mr. Quyet, Mr. Thanh's family's farm model is quite new. Due to its small scale, it has not yet brought in the expected income.
“Organic agricultural production has many advantages over other products, but often faces difficulties in market competition. However, once there is a market, this is a model that brings high economic efficiency,” said Mr. Le Ba Quyet.
Dantri.com.vn
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/lao-dong-viec-lam/cap-vo-chong-suyt-bi-bo-me-tu-mat-vi-bo-pho-ve-que-lam-nong-nghiep-sach-20241011093532454.htm
Comment (0)