Tourism reaches new heights, agriculture improves: Final episode

BHG - The terraced fields "gilded" with ripe rice, ancient Shan Tuyet tea trees sparkling with morning dew or bees collecting sweet nectar from purple Mint flowers amidst the mountains of cat's ear rocks... are not only beautiful images of agriculture but have become a vivid part of experiential tourism products. Indigenous agricultural values are gradually "on tour" in a creative and attractive way, contributing to creating a unique feature for the journey to explore Ha Giang.

Sow experience, reap emotion

Ha Giang not only captivates tourists with its majestic, pristine beauty of mountains and forests but also attracts them with its unique agriculture and villages bearing the imprint of indigenous culture. This advantage opens up a new direction for the province when harmoniously combining tourism with experiential agriculture. Thereby, it helps to enhance the value of agricultural products, create sustainable livelihoods for people, and contribute to enriching the unique tourism identity of Ha Giang.

The plum garden of Mr. Ly Ta Dong's family in Quan Ba commune (Quan Ba) has become a unique experience space for tourists. Photo: Moc Lan

Mr. Sung Mi Phin was born and raised in Sa Phin (Dong Van) land with rich historical traditions. This place is considered the cultural cradle of the Mong people on the Dong Van Stone Plateau, with the famous relic site of the Vuong Dynasty. With the desire to promote tourism development, promote local culture to a large number of tourists, especially foreign tourists, he turned the ancient house of his family into a unique homestay and came up with the idea of forming many unique experiential tours.

Mr. Phin shared: “When staying at the home of the local people, visitors not only get to rest but also have the opportunity to immerse themselves in daily life, understand more deeply the culture, customs and unique stories of each land. Taking advantage of my hometown, I have built experiential tours such as: harvesting flax, weaving flax, planting corn, spinning mint honey so that visitors can experience life as a real farmer. I also take visitors to visit traditional ancient houses of the Mong people; when the afternoon falls, I take them to participate in folk games or compete in ethnic sports . Thanks to that series of activities, my family not only attracts visitors but also effectively consumes many local agricultural products such as: mint honey, pork, dried beef and handicrafts made from flax”.

Ms. Lisanne, a tourist from the Netherlands, said: “Unlike my family and I’s trips to many places in the world, when coming to Dong Van, staying at a homestay of the Mong people gave me extremely interesting experiences. In particular, I also wore Mong ethnic costumes, sang, danced, and interacted with the students. The homestay owner, Mr. Sung Mi Phin, also let me experience making banh troi with sticky corn flour. I had more perspectives on the lives of the people in the highlands and loved this land even more.”

Tourists experience Shan Tuyet tea at Minh Quang Tea Cooperative, Xuan Minh Commune (Quang Binh). Photo: Khanh Huyen.

Located not far from the center of Quan Ba district, Nam Dam Community Cultural Tourism Village, Quan Ba commune is a village of the Dao people. Nam Dam has received the ASEAN award for its accommodation model combined with the introduction, experience and conservation of heritage in the Dong Van Karst Plateau UNESCO Global Geopark. Today, young people in the village are quick to apply technology to tourism, from booking rooms online on Booking, Agoda, to promoting the image of the village and typical agricultural products via Facebook, Tiktok.

Not stopping at bringing images of the countryside to digital platforms, many young people have boldly started businesses in their hometowns, combining tourism with agriculture in a creative and effective way. A typical example is Mr. Ly Ta Dong - owner of Toong Homestay. Realizing the potential of his hometown, Mr. Dong boldly combined accommodation services with farm development. On the land around the homestay, he planted more than 100 Tam Hoa plum trees, creating a cool green landscape and a highlight for tourists to visit and experience. In the plum season, the garden becomes brilliant, attracting visitors to relax, pick plums on the spot and bring them home at a price of 25 - 30 thousand VND/kg. In particular, he also cooperated with the Nam Dam Community Tourism Cooperative to develop foot bath and herbal bath services of the Dao people - a unique cultural feature of the locality. Thanks to knowing how to combine many factors from landscape, agriculture to cultural identity, helping Mr. Dong's family have a stable income of more than 10 million VND/month, at the same time creating a unique mark for highland ecotourism.

Although as beautiful as “miniature Switzerland”, Suoi Thau Grassland (Xin Man) still needs strategic investors to “awaken” its potential. Photo: Van Long

In the fall, when the terraced fields in Xin Man district are covered with the bright yellow color of ripe rice, the scenery here becomes as enchanting as a vivid oil painting in the middle of the mountains and forests. With the goal of both developing the rural economy, protecting the ecosystem, and creating a unique highlight to attract tourists, Xin Man district has implemented a model of raising carp on terraced fields with a scale of 100 hectares, in 6 communes such as: Nam Dan, Khuon Lung, Quang Nguyen... At the same time, investing in building community cultural tourism villages in Na Rang village, Khuon Lung commune; Quang Ha village, Quang Nguyen commune. Coming here, visitors can not only admire the poetic scenery of the golden season but also wade through the fields to catch carp, and join the locals in preparing and enjoying traditional dishes with the rich flavor of the mountains and forests.

According to many experts: When agriculture "goes on tour", it clearly shows that Ha Giang is transforming towards green, sustainable and deeply imbued with its identity. The good news is that the local people themselves are the creative subjects, telling the story of their homeland through their own products, culture and daily life. When tourists come to Ha Giang not only to sightsee but also to live with the people, work, eat and play as a member of the village, then tourism is no longer a passing trip but becomes a part of bonding, sharing and spreading love. The experiences seem simple but are emotional "touch points", bringing tourists closer to the life and people of Ha Giang.

Unlocking potential into real value

Ha Giang has left its mark on tourists as a “precious gem” of the mountainous region, a place where majestic natural beauty, diverse cultural identity and unique agricultural products converge. However, according to the assessment of local authorities, “tourist” agriculture still needs a methodical strategy for sustainable development.

People in Na Mau village, Phuong Tien commune (Vi Xuyen) harvest Shan Tuyet tea. Photo: Khanh Huyen

Currently, Vi Xuyen district has formed a concentrated raw material area with key products such as Shan Tuyet tea, cardamom, medicinal herbs, etc. However, the chain linkage is still loose due to the lack of leading role of enterprises. In 2024, the whole district will have nearly 2,800 hectares of cardamom with an output of over 1,900 tons, reaching a value of nearly 196 billion VND. Despite having geographical indications and large output, Vi Xuyen cardamom is still mainly processed in raw form, only about 10% is deeply processed and only 1 cooperative consumes the product. Similarly, with more than 2,900 hectares of cinnamon, people still exploit and consume it in the traditional way, selling fresh or drying, causing low value due to the lack of enterprises linking production, processing and consumption of products.

Along with the above difficulties, although Vi Xuyen district has made efforts to consolidate 10 cooperatives producing and processing typical agricultural products with 116 participating members, the reorganization of production, gathering of farmers and changing the mindset from small-scale to commodity production have not yet achieved clear results. This is a major barrier that makes the process of expanding the scale and building a sustainable chain difficult; at the same time, it limits the synchronous application of scientific and technical advances, quality control and increases production costs. On the other hand, lack of capital and difficulty in accessing support policies are also major barriers that make it difficult for farmers and cooperatives to break out of the small-scale scale - Vice Chairman of Vi Xuyen District People's Committee, Le Thanh Hai shared.

Spreading over nearly 500 hectares in Nan Ma commune and Coc Pai town, Suoi Thau grassland (Xin Man) is like a beautiful natural picture with diverse terrain, rich vegetation, winding terraced fields, colorful wild flowers and tall Sa Moc ranges in the middle of the green grassland. Not only is it attractive for its enchanting scenery, this place also attracts visitors with its unique cultural festivals such as Gau Tao, Water Procession, Water Cooking...

Pa Then ethnic group in Tan Bac commune (Quang Binh) preserves traditional brocade weaving. Photo: My Ly

Despite its majestic beauty like a "miniature Switzerland", Suoi Thau is still "sleeping" on its potential treasure. The combination of tourism development with ecological agriculture - a promising direction - still faces many "barriers". Vice Chairman of Xin Man District People's Committee, Ngo Van Tang shared: "The district has coordinated with relevant units to develop a Zoning Plan for the construction of Suoi Thau grassland tourist area with the orientation of dividing the resort area, the outskirts, and the core area; developing satellite models associated with the value chain and connecting inter-regional traffic infrastructure. However, all of this has only stopped at the idea stage when it has not been able to attract investors with vision and capacity to implement it". Meanwhile, despite possessing great potential to develop the "smokeless industry", Xin Man is still struggling to find a breakthrough direction when the problem of traffic infrastructure and investment resources has not been satisfactorily solved.

Not only Xin Man district, many other localities are also struggling with the problem of unsynchronized technical infrastructure, fragmented and monotonous experience services, not enough to attract tourists; traffic infrastructure to tourist destinations still has many obstacles... However, with a strategic vision, our province has been linking agriculture with tourism to turn potential into advantages, turn advantages into real values, improve people's lives. In particular, focusing on re-planning production and tourism areas in the direction of interweaving and supporting each other. This is not only a way to share infrastructure but also an ecological development strategy, where agricultural products are typical goods associated with experiences, brands are associated with identity and added value is expanded from that very harmony.

The construction unit is making efforts to overcome landslides on Highway DT.177, ensuring traffic safety for tourists on their journey to discover the beauty of Xin Man district. Photo: Thu Phuong

Vice Chairman of Hoang Su Phi District People's Committee, Ly Choi Nhan, said: “With the goal of both creating sustainable livelihoods for local people and bringing unique and interesting experiences to tourists, the district is focusing on developing production and processing of typical agricultural products associated with ecotourism and community tourism; creating community tourism models with strong identities, where production and experience are combined. At the same time, prioritizing investment and improving transport infrastructure and essential tourism services; promoting the image of Hoang Su Phi tourism through diverse media channels. Along with that, building a value chain in sustainable development of ecotourism and experience with three pillars: The government creates mechanisms, businesses act as "locomotives" to lead the market, and the community and people are the subjects of practice and preservation of identity". The synchronous solutions and strategic vision that Hoang Su Phi district is pursuing are also the destination of many other localities on the journey of preserving indigenous cultural values associated with protecting the ecological environment, forming a green tourism brand, rich in identity, competitive and widespread.

By harmoniously combining conservation and development, modernity and tradition, products and experiences, the province is realizing the goal of developing tourism not only as a destination but also as a journey to explore culture, nature and people. This is both an economic strategy and a way to preserve and enhance indigenous values, demonstrating the journey of intelligence, courage and aspiration to bring Ha Giang to rapid and sustainable development.

PV Group