Nguyen Thi Bich - the owner of the farm welcomed us in the middle of a well-designed garden with abundant flowers and fruits. With a fair and pretty appearance like a city girl, we thought we were guests visiting the garden. Cutting some freshly picked guavas to offer to the guests, Bich generously said: "The guava is clean, I eat the fruit, drink guava leaf water every day, and am healthy today thanks to it". Those half-joking, half-serious words are also the story of the life of this strong-willed girl.
Nguyen Thi Bich was born in 1989, from Nam Dinh province (old). In 2011, she graduated from Lac Hong University and had a job with a good income in Dong Nai province. Working as an accountant and selling some agricultural products, she always dreamed of having her own fruit garden, so she worked hard and saved up capital to pursue her passion. Then, a cruel incident happened when Bich discovered she had cervical cancer in 2019. Not giving up or being miserable, Bich remained optimistic and found a quiet, unpolluted place to treat her illness. That was the land in Cu M'lan commune (old Ea Sup district), where she had the opportunity to visit a year before and was impressed by the fresh air, delicious fruit, and special taste. Bich decided to buy 2 hectares of land here and start a new journey.
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| Nguyen Thi Bich takes care of the ruby guava garden. |
In the early days, everything was unfamiliar and lacking in every way. This area was still wild, with few people and muddy roads. Bich had all the old cashew trees in the garden dug up, the soil dried for 6 months, and manure spread out to let the grass grow before clearing and plowing the land to plant ruby guava and green-skinned grapefruit. Seeing that their daughter was sick and struggling alone in a strange land, her parents were very worried and tried to advise her, but Bich remained steadfast in her choice. She cultivated organically, collecting dried corn husks that people discarded to compost the roots of the trees to keep them moist and create humus and minerals for the soil. The care process minimized chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and mainly used biological products such as chicken manure, composted cow manure, banana juice, and soybeans. When the plants were affected by pests, biological drugs and wine brewed with ginger, garlic, and chili were used to prevent and treat diseases.
"It is my passion for agriculture and my affinity with ruby guava trees that helped me overcome my illness and myself." share |
The journey of a girl who left the city to return to her hometown to do farming was full of hardships. The climate in this area is harsh, the soil is dry, infertile, and acidic, so the trees have difficulty adapting; while Bich did not have much experience, the trees were stunted. When the guavas bore fruit, the quality was poor and they could not be harvested. Sometimes she felt heartbroken when she saw dozens of tons of soft, bland guavas that no one bought, falling all over the ground.
Not giving up, Bich still persisted in her method and worked diligently in the garden as a daily joy. She researched and learned to determine the reasons why the trees grew slowly and had difficulty setting fruit; at the same time, she adjusted the care and watering to suit the weather conditions and soil characteristics here. Thanks to that, the garden gradually stabilized, developed well and began to bloom and bear fruit to repay the growers. Besides taking care of the garden, the girl also paid attention to improving her health. In particular, following the doctor's advice, along with the treatment regimen, she took young guava leaves to drink to support disease resistance, and after more than a year, her body destroyed all cancer cells. "It was my passion for agriculture and my fate with ruby guava trees that helped me overcome the disease and myself," Nguyen Thi Bich shared.
Bich said that up to now, her garden has 1,300 ruby guava trees, 300 green-skinned grapefruit trees and hundreds of other fruit trees. When intercropping guava and grapefruit, the risk of pests and diseases will be significantly reduced, because the essential oils from grapefruit leaves and fruits help reduce mealybugs, and guava leaves contain essences that prevent leaf-eating worms. When the guava is harvested, it creates a source of income to invest in grapefruit trees.
The guava garden has now produced a stable harvest. She can intervene in the technique and adjust the garden to produce fruit all year round, with this year's output of about 70 tons. Although the yield of organic guava is low, the selling price is higher because it is sweet, fragrant and has few seeds. The product is mainly consumed in Ho Chi Minh City and Dong Nai province (old), generating an income of 500 million VND/ha. This model creates jobs for 10 local workers. She also cooperated with 5 households to establish the Ea Sup Guava Growing Cooperative with an area of 10 hectares to support techniques, experience and product consumption.
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| Nguyen Thi Bich's determination and clean farming story have spread, attracting many young people to the farm to learn and experience. |
Besides, with her passion for ruby guava, Bich researched and utilized young leaves and guava buds to make tea. After overcoming her illness, she was even more motivated to develop this product.
To develop a healthy tea, she collaborated with the Ea Sup Poverty Reduction Cooperative to produce a product under the Briêt brand. This tea combines Briêt black rice, which has been certified organic, and guava leaves. Briêt rice is known for its many health-promoting nutrients such as fiber, iron, vitamins, omega 3, and antioxidants; while ruby guava leaves are rich in nutrients and contain tannins that help treat type 2 diabetes.
This product has been announced, in addition to being sold in the provincial market, it is also widely consumed in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Bich is registering a 3-star OCOP product profile for Briêt tea. In addition, the young girl also takes advantage of the soft ripe fruits to make guava wine and guava juice, which are being tested online on social networking platforms and clean agricultural product stores and have received positive reviews.
Bich said that growing ruby guava gives double benefits from leaves and fruit. However, growing for leaves will have lower costs, higher profits and create more jobs for people. Therefore, in the coming time, besides growing guava for fruit, she will cooperate with people to expand the area, grow large-scale to produce raw materials for tea to provide products that are good for consumers' health. Nguyen Thi Bich shared: "I want to develop many products to create more jobs for people, contributing to the economic development of this land. At the same time, spread inspiration for the community to work together in clean agriculture and increase the value of local agricultural products".
Source: https://baodaklak.vn/kinh-te/202507/cau-chuyen-lam-nong-nghiep-sach-cua-co-gai-mac-benh-hiem-ngheo-053131e/
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