The young man inspired to start a business from his hometown's agricultural products

TPO - From the simple agricultural products of his hometown, Nguyen Van Tuan (29 years old, Yen Chau commune, Son La province) has created a breakthrough with the spirit of daring to think, daring to do and modern freeze-drying technology. His entrepreneurial journey is contributing to raising the value of local agricultural products and inspiring many young people in the highlands.

Nguyen Van Tuan introduces his products to consumers through social networking platforms.

Bold steps of young people

In Nguyen Van Tuan’s workshop of over 100 square meters in Yen Chau commune, workers are continuously packing crates of black garlic to deliver to customers nationwide. In the midst of this busy atmosphere, the image of Nguyen Van Tuan, the young director of a local enterprise, stands out as a vivid testament to the daring spirit of young people.

Starting from scratch, in 2022, Tuan started a startup project to process freeze-dried papaya flower tea. While many people were unfamiliar with this medicinal herb, the young man in Yen Chau saw an opportunity from folk knowledge. “Papaya flower supports respiration, digestion, increases resistance... but there is no properly processed product yet,” Tuan shared. And so, with determination and a desire to learn, he started to learn about freeze-drying technology, flavoring, grinding and packaging tea bags.

The project brought home first prize at the Son La Province Innovation and Startup Festival, becoming an important stepping stone for Tuan to further his career in processing local agricultural products.

Papaya flower.

Nguyen Van Tuan said that papaya flowers are purchased from local people, cleaned, freeze-dried for 20 hours until the humidity is below 5%, then roasted, finely ground and packaged into tea bags, convenient for users. The freeze-dried papaya flower tea product was quickly certified as OCOP, and consumed strongly thanks to its quality and convenience. Each box of tea is sold for 75,000 VND; freeze-dried papaya flowers reach 400,000 VND/kg, bringing stable income and creating jobs for young local workers.

Not stopping at the initial success, Nguyen Van Tuan continued to look for new directions. He realized that his hometown had many types of agricultural products that could be dried to increase their value. Among them, single garlic is a precious medicinal herb, and the product needed to be upgraded. “There were years when the harvest was good, but the price dropped. People planted them but were not confident because the output was unstable,” Tuan recalled.

From that concern, he researched the process of naturally fermenting fresh garlic into black garlic, a product line rich in nutrients, with a wide open market. After many months of testing, the black garlic product was born and was quickly recognized as a 4-star OCOP, distributed to many provinces and large cities such as Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Can Tho, Hai Phong, Thanh Hoa...

To meet market demand, the company invested in 10 garlic fermentation machines, supplying more than 20 tons of black garlic each year. More importantly, Tuan has built a network of connections with hundreds of local garlic growers with stable purchasing prices, helping people feel secure in their cultivation. Currently, Tuan's company has 9 workers with an income of more than 6 million VND per person/month.

Ms. Lo Thi Phuong, Luong Me village shared: “Previously, the price of garlic sold to traders fluctuated. In recent years, Tuan's business has been purchasing steadily, so we feel secure in our production. Our lives have also improved.”

Freeze-drying technology helps increase the value of agricultural products

One of Tuan's great achievements is his bold investment in freeze-drying technology and modern processing techniques that help preserve the color, flavor and micronutrients of agricultural products.

“To improve product quality, I borrowed capital to invest in modern machinery and technology such as freeze dryers and freeze dryers. The total investment is up to 700 million VND. The freeze dryer operates on the principle of freezing raw materials to minus 30 to minus 50 degrees Celsius, then putting them in a vacuum environment so that the ice can directly turn into vapor. The process lasts 30-40 hours, and the product retains its original shape, color and nutritional value,” Tuan said.

To make consumers more aware of the product, Tuan has promoted digital transformation for sales, applying digital technology to optimize all processes, from sales to marketing, to increase revenue, improve customer experience and create competitive advantages, helping him achieve revenue of more than 7 billion VND per year.

Such thorough investment has helped Nguyen Van Tuan not only produce black garlic and papaya flowers but also expand to many other agricultural products such as dried bananas and crispy dried fruits, typical products of Yen Chau.

Nguyen Van Tuan’s journey shows that creative will combined with modern technology will bring success. From papaya flowers to black garlic, from familiar agricultural products of his homeland, the young man has given them a new look: better quality, more professional and of higher economic value.

Mr. Hoang Van Tung, Secretary of Yen Chau Commune Youth Union, said that Mr. Tuan has strongly inspired many young people who want to start a business from their hometown's agricultural products. "Starting a business from agriculture is not easy, especially in the highlands. But for young people like Tuan, difficulties are not barriers but motivation to break through. And they themselves, with persistent efforts, are contributing to continue writing the story of innovation in Son La agriculture, the story of young people who dare to dream and dare to do," said Mr. Hoang Van Tung.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/chang-trai-truyen-cam-hung-khoi-nghiep-tu-chinh-nong-san-que-huong-post1798948.tpo