Having traveled through 12 countries, graduated from a prestigious university in the Netherlands, and had many job opportunities with high income, this young woman still decided to return to Vietnam to become a farmer.
After 3 years of working as a farmer, Ms. Lam Thi My Tien (25 years old), residing in Hieu Liem commune, Bac Tan Uyen district (Binh Duong), has developed the local economic potential from growing oranges and tangerines; with a revenue of about 3 billion VND/year.
Give up a lucrative job to go farming
Ms. Tien's family comes from a farming background, so her grandfather always wanted her to follow in his footsteps, but she once thought that she was good at foreign languages and could find a more potential path than "selling her face to the ground and her back to the sky".
Ms. My Tien gave up attractive jobs abroad to become a farmer.
Shanghai
"At that time, I wanted to study abroad so I had no passion for agriculture . In 2016, I went to study abroad at the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands) and wanted to find opportunities to develop my career abroad," said Ms. Tien.
After more than 3 years of studying abroad in the Netherlands, Ms. Tien had the time and opportunity to visit many countries, such as: Belgium, France, Germany, Norway, Italy... When stopping at the Positano peninsula (Italy), the famous yellow lemons here began to attract her attention. Almost everything here is related to this agricultural product, from small neighborhoods, luxurious restaurants decorated with cool yellow lemon trellis, to every set of clothes, dishes are also bright lemon yellow...
"A local told me that this peninsula used to be nothing special, but since they knew how to use lemons for tourism , this place has become a million-dollar land. This surprised me because in my hometown, there are many delicious oranges and tangerines but they can't do that," she said.
This makes Ms. Tien worry about the story of "good harvest, low price, good price, bad harvest" in her hometown. While oranges and lemons abroad can be used to make ice cream, pudding, sponge cake, jelly... but in her hometown, when they can't be sold, they can only peel the skin and feed the fish with the pulp.
"Processed agricultural products from Vietnam are still quite rare, and selling them only fresh makes buyers not very interested. But it is very difficult for farmers to keep up with market trends, so I want to combine what I have learned with my grandparents' farming experience to change that," she said.
To gain more experience, Ms. Tien went to Spain, Malaysia, Thailand and Japan to learn how to display and classify agricultural products, how to work in cooperatives and spread multi-platform brand stories. At the end of 2019, she decided to return to her hometown to become a farmer, even though at that time she could have worked for an airline or managed an Asian supermarket chain in the Netherlands with an attractive income.
Want to change the problem of "good harvest, low price"
The day Tien returned to her hometown, there were many rumors that she couldn't study so she came back to farm and her family also tried to stop her a lot.
"When I decided to return, my grandfather was very happy, but my relatives and friends asked many questions and advised me to return to the Netherlands because I could still study further. But I think the younger generation has traveled a lot and knows a lot, so they want to return to share the story of agricultural products," she said.
Ms. Tien and Mr. Chokchai Kolsrichai, Executive Director of Talaad Thai Agricultural Wholesale Market (Thailand)
NVCC
Becoming a farmer completely changed Tien's life. She had to learn everything from scratch, so she gradually understood the hardships of being a farmer.
"At first, I was very afraid of the sun and couldn't do anything, but when I went to the garden regularly, I started to get used to waking up at 6am and working until 10pm. In February 2023, the price of oranges dropped to only 2,000 VND/kg and the garden lost more than 100 million VND, which made me discouraged," Ms. Tien said and expressed: "But I think that thanks to growing oranges and tangerines, my grandparents were able to send me to study abroad in many places, so I want to contribute and apply many new methods to increase the value of these two fruits."
So Ms. Tien started researching the market, exchanging experiences with agricultural corporations in Australia and setting up a sharing channel on social networks to build a brand and spread the value of agricultural products. Currently, she manages about 10 hectares of garden land, with agricultural products such as: navel oranges, xoan oranges, V2 oranges, pink tangerines, sugar tangerines, etc., with a revenue of about 3 billion VND/year. In particular, she is researching how to make orange and tangerine sauce in cooking and jelly, combined with coconut nectar to increase the value of the product.
As a close customer of Ms. Tien, Mr. Tran Quang Hien (30 years old), currently working as a driver in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, said: "I know Tien through clips posted on social networks, so I went to the farm to buy oranges. Because I have been to many gardens, I found that Tien's oranges and tangerines are just as delicious as those in Sa Dec City (Dong Thap), so I decided to import them for business. Tien is a young person but very hard-working and ambitious."
Mr. Nguyen Nhat Chuong (43 years old), member of the Binh Duong Billionaire Farmers Association, CEO of Kingwood Trading and Service Company Limited, said: "Tien's startup model is the passion of a young person who wants to solve the problem of "good harvest, low price" through experiences and knowledge when participating in agricultural fairs and exhibitions of many countries. Tien knows how to promote trade, tell the brand story, thereby being able to increase the value of regional agricultural products".
Sharing about her plan, Ms. Tien expressed: "I want to become a person who motivates young people to do agriculture. Through gardening clips posted on social networks, I want to show everyone that Vietnamese agricultural products are very delicious, farmers are extremely determined and young people can change the current problem of "good harvest, low price".
Thanhnien.vn
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