Mr. Ho Hoang Kha shared and provided guidance on techniques for caring for pomelo trees during the Tet holiday with members of the Song Xoai Green Pomelo Cooperative.
One of the outstanding figures is Mr. Ho Hoang Kha (born in 1993), a young farmer in Song Xoai 1 neighborhood, Tan Thanh ward, Ho Chi Minh City - who has contributed to making Song Xoai green pomelo a typical agricultural product of the locality and reaching the international market.
In 2011, while in his first year at Ho Chi Minh City University of Law, a family tragedy forced Ho Hoang Kha to put his academic dreams on hold. He returned to his hometown to "take over" his parents' green pomelo orchard and has been involved in pomelo farming ever since.
In the early days of his grapefruit farming career, Kha faced numerous challenges. Fragmented production, heavy reliance on chemical fertilizers, and unstable market outlets were common problems for local farmers. Unwilling to accept outdated farming methods, he embarked on a journey of "knowledgeable farming" by actively participating in training courses, reading relevant materials, and learning from experts and advanced farming models.
Based on the knowledge he gained, Kha boldly changed his production methods, switching to using bio-fertilizers and biological pesticides, minimizing the use of chemicals; investing in an automatic irrigation system, and managing the orchard according to scientific procedures. In a short time, the effectiveness of the new model applied to Kha's family's 2-hectare orchard improved significantly, with the grapefruit trees growing steadily, producing uniform fruit of attractive appearance, meeting the stringent requirements of the market.
Not content with just a family-scale operation, Kha continued to lease more land, expanding his pomelo cultivation area. To date, he owns and manages a total of 32 hectares of green-skinned pomelos; of which 10 hectares are family land and 22 hectares are leased land. Alongside production, he invested in a preliminary processing facility, storage warehouse, and a 200 m² processing plant to produce post-harvest pomelo products.
Processed products made from grapefruit peel have been researched and brought to market by Ho Hoang Kha and his colleagues.
With its large scale and high-quality products, in 2024, Mr. Kha's family's green pomelo product received a 4-star OCOP certification. The 5-hectare pomelo farm has also been certified organic and granted a planting area code, making it eligible for export to the US market. With increasingly large-scale production, the farm generates approximately 14 billion VND in revenue annually, with a net profit after expenses of nearly 8 billion VND. Mr. Kha's family pomelo farming model has created regular employment for 18 local workers with an average monthly income of over 8 million VND; seasonal workers earn an average of 300,000 - 500,000 VND per day. The majority of the workers are ethnic minorities such as Khmer, Chơ-ro, and Hoa, providing them with jobs and good income, contributing to local security, order, and economic development.
Not only did he enrich himself, Ho Hoang Kha is also known as the "driving force" of the local production linkage movement. When the Song Xoai Green Pomelo Cooperative was established, he was trusted by the people and elected as Deputy Director, and by mid-2025, he became the Director of the cooperative, at the young age of 32.
According to Mr. Duong Hoang Nam, a member of the Song Xoai Green Pomelo Cooperative, Kha's support has helped many households change their production mindset. "From selecting varieties and caring for the trees to using fertilizers and bio-pesticides, Mr. Kha has guided me attentively. Thanks to him, my family's pomelo orchard produces beautiful, high-quality fruit, and our income is much more stable than before," Mr. Nam shared.
After 12 years of operation, the Song Xoai Green Pomelo Cooperative has more than 120 members and over 200 hectares of pomelo orchards; its fresh pomelo products have achieved OCOP 4-star certification and successfully exported to the US market in 2024. This is an important milestone affirming the Song Xoai pomelo brand on the export agricultural product map.
As the director of the cooperative, Ho Hoang Kha's goal wasn't simply to sell fresh pomelos. He was concerned about how to increase added value and reduce the risk of dependence on the price of raw agricultural products. Therefore, he and his colleagues researched deep processing, utilizing pomelo peels – a part often discarded – to create new products. A series of modern equipment such as essential oil presses, dryers, cutters, and a traceability system were invested in.
From small workshops, many value-added products have emerged, such as fermented pomelo, pomelo wine, pomelo essential oil, pomelo tea, dried pomelo peel, pomelo peel jam, pomelo incense, etc. Product diversification not only helps the cooperative proactively secure outlets but also creates more jobs and increases income for its members.
“For sustainable agricultural development, we must apply science and technology and market-oriented thinking. E-commerce and traceability are key to ensuring the sustainability of agricultural products,” Mr. Kha shared. From that perspective, the cooperative has built a synchronized production process, affixed OCOP labels to all products, and ensured transparency regarding growing areas and cultivation processes.
Mr. Ho Hoang Kha inspects processed products made from pomelo peel before they are released to the market.
To date, the cooperative has 30 pioneering members producing according to VietGAP standards; 5 households have been granted export codes to the United States with a total area of 18 hectares. A common technical manual has also been developed to ensure consistent product quality, creating a foundation for the development of a closed value chain from production - procurement - processing - consumption.
Those efforts have been deservedly recognized. In October 2025, Ho Hoang Kha was one of three representatives from Ho Chi Minh City honored by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Association with the title "Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer of 2025". This is not only a reward for him personally, but also a testament to the path of modern, sustainable agriculture – a path that has been and is helping the Song Xoai green pomelo reach further.
Source: https://baotintuc.vn/nguoi-tot-viec-tot/chang-giam-doc-tre-dua-buoi-da-xanh-song-xoai-vuon-xa-20260112170512790.htm
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