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Doan Thi Thoa, Director of Khang Tuong Cooperative. |
When the birds return
Impressive by the wild beauty of mangrove forests, Xuan Thuy National Park is the first destination of Vietnam in particular and Southeast Asia in general, to participate in the Ramsar Convention (convention for the conservation of wetlands of international importance, especially as habitats for waterfowl - Ramsar, Iran, 1971).
The mangrove forests of Xuan Thuy are home to many species of birds, otters, as well as shrimp, fish, crabs, clams, oysters... In particular, from November to March and April every year, Xuan Thuy National Park welcomes tens of thousands of flocks of birds stopping to rest before continuing their journey south to avoid the cold.
Like tired birds looking for shelter, 8 years ago, Ms. Doan Thi Thoa returned to her hometown in Giao An commune (Giao Thuy, Nam Dinh ) to take maternity leave. Living in the buffer zone of Giao Thuy National Park, hundreds of households in Giao An rely on natural seafood to sustain their lives. Thanks to the mangrove forest, Ms. Thoa's parents raised all 4 children to graduate from university.
Not only exploiting seafood from nature, Ms. Doan Thi Thoa is also interested in compensating for nature by actively planting trees and encouraging everyone to plant trees. Since 2018, when she started earning income from selling seafood online, she pioneered in planting 1,000 mangrove and parrot trees in her home lagoon, with the desire to gradually restore the mangrove areas destroyed by human activities.
Later, she also sponsored capital and persuaded many surrounding households to join hands in planting mangrove forests. She estimated that the amount of money spent to buy the trees was equal to the price of a new car, but she has never regretted it. It may take 5 years, 10 years, or even longer for her and the households of Giao An commune to revive the lost mangrove forests, but she believes: "Just do it, and it will be done. Just go, and it will become a road." 
In 2017, when she returned to her hometown, coinciding with the time of the storm, Ms. Thoa witnessed with her own eyes the devastation of her family's shrimp pond after the storm, the shrimp were completely gone. Faced with that situation, Ms. Thoa told herself that she had to save herself before receiving help from the community. She tried collecting and processing the shrimp, then the whole family tried it. Seeing that the product was still delicious and of guaranteed quality, she continued to sell it on Facebook. The nature of the seafood is natural seafood raised in the mangrove environment, not affected by the industrial farming process or antibiotics or chemicals, so Ms. Thoa's family's seafood was quickly accepted by customers. After 2-3 months of testing, she decided to quit her job in Hanoi and wholeheartedly develop the seafood trading activities in her hometown.
“My family fully supported me, but everyone was worried, not knowing if this job would be stable,” Ms. Thoa recalled.
At that time, Giao An people were only used to selling fresh seafood on the spot, at most drying it, no one had the idea of selling seafood processed in a systematic way. She went on YouTube to learn, then traveled all the way to Ben Tre and Ca Mau to learn how people processed seafood.
On August 24, 2019, she officially established Khang Tuong Cooperative, with the desire to standardize the entire legal process, not just small-scale trading. The cooperative consists of 8 members, of which Ms. Thoa is the Director, with the slogan "Khang Tuong - relying on the sea". The cooperative operates in the field of purchasing and distributing natural seafood, supporting people in the area to increase their income.
Each season has its own products, the Cooperative does not have a specific quantity of seafood output, but depends on nature and weather. For example, the season from October to April of the following year is the season of shrimp, tiger prawn, mullet, tilapia, sea bass... Depending on the customer's target, the products will be frozen, or pre-processed, processed before being shipped.
Ms. Thoa said that so far, the Cooperative has purchased from over 100 households. Initially, she focused on selling on Facebook. Then, naturally fragrant, clean food chains came to contact the cooperative. First was the Bac Tom chain, then other chains and even food stores in coastal cities such as Da Nang, Dong Hoi (Quang Binh)...
Pioneer in combining seafood business and ecotourism
After a period of building a stable cooperative, Ms. Thoa continued to venture into a new field, which is doing homestay in the direction of eco-tourism. Previously, she was a pioneer in processing and distributing Giao An seafood to all provinces and cities across the country, but now, she is the first person to do homestay business.
She said that Giao Thuy National Park has great potential for tourism as well as research. With a natural mangrove ecosystem and biological diversity, every year many groups of students and scientists come to learn and research. However, around Giao An area, there are only 1-2 motels, not any systematic homestay model.
“I think everyone understands the potential of tourism, but no one dares to do it because they are afraid of the high investment costs, while the source of visitors is unstable,” Ms. Thoa explained.
Instead of being afraid like most people, she boldly borrowed money from the bank to invest in building An Eco homestay, in which "An" means both Giao An - the place where she was born and raised, and also refers to peace with nature and peace of mind.
Through the name An Eco, Ms. Thoa wants to bring tourists a meeting place to immerse themselves in nature. In addition to accommodation services, An Eco also organizes eco-tourism activities such as fishing, cycling, catching clams, shrimps and fish in natural lagoons, visiting Xuan Thuy National Park... The homestay also has full dining services, in which the source of seafood is guaranteed to be fresh, clean and natural, provided by Khang Tuong Cooperative.
Officially opened on the occasion of April 30 this year, Ms. Thoa's An Eco homestay has received many positive responses from tourists. Although not as crowded as during the holidays, every week, the homestay has guests visiting and experiencing ecological services.
Ms. Thoa expressed her hope that the model will soon develop stably, creating strong confidence for many households in the area to participate in developing homestay accommodation.
In the past, when developing Khang Tuong Cooperative, many households learned her way of doing things, invested in machines for packaging and vacuuming, thereby increasing the value of seafood in Giao An area, then learned from her to sell on Facebook. She always feels happy and proud to have created more value for her hometown seafood, helping many people increase their income.
And now, she hopes that many families will participate in ecotourism, creating a positive ripple effect for the economic development of her hometown, making Giao An a typical area for ecotourism development in Nam Dinh province.
Source: https://baodautu.vn/doan-thi-thoa-giam-doc-hop-tac-xa-khang-tuong-dua-huong-vi-que-nha-vuon-xa-d296106.html
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