[eMagazine] - Investing in agriculture with all your mind and passion | QUANG NAM ONLINE NEWSPAPER

(QNO) - Many successful startups in the agricultural sector in Quang Nam started with the mindset that "investing in agriculture is not only about physical strength but also requires brainpower". Along with many preferential policies of the province in recent years, they have built a good foundation, a fundamental basis for the startup path to become increasingly solid and favorable.

UN Farm's scientific and safe farming model. Photo: H.DAO

Nguyen Thi Bao Linh (Bich Ngo village, Tam Xuan 2 commune, Nui Thanh) once made her family worry when she expressed her intention to "return home" - quit her stable, high-paying job in Ho Chi Minh City to return to her hometown to become a farmer! For many people, ten years of working at a fertilizer company with a salary of more than 50 million VND/month is a dream, but for Linh, the biggest dream is to start a business in her own hometown!

“Since I was young, seeing my parents working hard all their lives but still being poor made me want to become an agricultural engineer. When I grew up, I always wondered how farmers could cultivate effectively and profitably on the land they had been attached to for generations. So I decided to leave my position as head of the research and production department of microbiological products at a fertilizer company and start building the UN Farm project,” said Bao Linh.

Fertilizer products with a large investment of brainpower by Nguyen Thi Bao Linh and UN Farm associates. Photo: H.DAO

With great determination and a well-planned orientation, this woman convinced her husband and sister to join her project. With in-depth knowledge of microbial product production, Bao Linh continued to research to create pellet fertilizers and microbial product solutions. Linh sourced waste straw from mushroom farms to compost with microbial products for mass production.

According to Bao Linh, the advantage of producing organic fertilizer using microbial products instead of earthworms is that it can be produced in large quantities, and the amount of beneficial microorganisms can be controlled to create good quality fertilizer, ensuring many nutritional components.

[VIDEO] – UN Farm farming solution provider model:

On his family’s 3 acres of agricultural land, LQH Farm uses organic fertilizers and microbiological products throughout the growing process on demonstration and experimental models. At the same time, LQH Farm also supports farmers in the village to demonstrate rice cultivation using organic fertilizers to communicate and promote his startup project.

Nguyen Thi To Nga's "Clean Living" products are made with all her heart. Photo: H.DAO

The startup story of Nguyen Thi To Nga - CEO of SOSAFCO Production, Trade and Service Company Limited is not unfamiliar to the startup community in Quang Nam. Everyone knows her as a hard-working bee who has been nurturing "Clean Living" to become a typical startup project every day. Nga said that, switching from the fashion and tourism business, in the early days of conceiving a startup project in the agricultural sector, she simply thought of selling a few typical agricultural products of her hometown.

"On the first day of starting my business, I did not fully envision the scale of the project, the development direction of the company and the difficulties faced in the market. From then on, I realized that leaving the city to return to the countryside was not simply about becoming a farmer, but bringing knowledge and advanced technology to apply to agriculture was the right direction" - Nga shared.

Internal reform, investment in human resources and advanced technology are the current steps of the “Clean Living” project. Photo: H.DAO

Nguyen Thi To Nga does not sell raw agricultural products but deeply processes agricultural products and packages products. She invests in refining technology, removes impurities, retains high nutritional content of agricultural products to produce high-quality cooking oil, fish sauce, bird's nest... This right direction has helped the company's revenue increase steadily, the products are available in many supermarkets and distribution agents from North to South.

When the business grew in size, this businesswoman recognized the challenges. Nga understood that she needed to have enough knowledge to grow, so she spent most of her time accumulating management and business experience and visiting other good models. In addition, she sought to access modern processing, packaging and production technologies to select and apply, and replace some old and outdated equipment.

Nguyen Thi To Nga shared that many years of Covid-19 pandemic have caused many businesses to stagnate and have difficulty developing. That is why the "Clean Living" project needs to return to deep reform within the model, increasing the amount of intelligence in management and production. She restructured the quality of human resources, sought opportunities from preferential policies of the province and the central government in the field of agriculture - startups, and carefully planned finances in accordance with the current situation...

“If we spontaneously follow our own way and are outside the province’s agricultural development strategy, it will certainly be difficult upon difficult. Therefore, I stick to the province’s planning to build my products. Up to now, the company has 15 strategic products and 8 export-oriented products. The most necessary thing for the project now is to find a place to build a production and processing factory to enter the acceleration phase in the future,” said Ms. To Nga.

[VIDEO] – Nguyen Thi To Nga talks about "investing" brainpower in startups:

Anchovy products of Nguyen Tien Manh. Photo: H.DAO

Following the initial success of the NT-SEAFOOD fish cake startup project, Nguyen Tien Manh (Long Thanh village, Tam Tien commune, Nui Thanh) immediately sought support mechanisms from the state to expand production scale. Striving to improve quality and meet the prescribed criteria, Manh received support through the mechanism for developing typical rural industrial products to buy a dryer for the closed fish cake production process, ensuring food hygiene and safety. Manh also proactively participated in the OCOP program to receive advice, develop packaging designs, and sell on e-commerce platforms supported by the state.

Not stopping there, Nguyen Tien Manh has collaborated with UN Farm to develop a project to grow and produce crispy dried sweet potatoes on the sandy land of Tam Tien.

“ UN Farm has an advantage in terms of production processes, seed sources and fertilizers. Currently, we aim to mobilize farmers to form potato growing areas, ask local authorities to support the completion of legal procedures to rent more land, and provide guidance on accessing sources of investment funding and business capital…” - Manh said.

Quang Nam has a lot of potential to start a business from agriculture. Photo: H.DAO

Sharing the same view, Nguyen Thi To Nga believes that, besides good ideas, government policy support is the foundation for startups in the agricultural sector to break through. Over many years of starting a business, Nga has always had access to preferential mechanisms to help the "Clean Living" project develop further.

“I am lucky to have received a lot of support from the government, so I can take advantage of this resource to build infrastructure, brands and products. However, every policy has conditions attached. If we develop our business based on the criteria and conditions of the policy, we will obviously receive support. We must actively respond to it and not complain that the policy is difficult to access,” Nguyen Thi To Nga affirmed.

[VIDEO] – Quang Nam has potential for starting a business in the following fields:

According to Deputy Director of the Department of Science and Technology and Head of the Provincial Startup - Innovation Support Board Pham Ngoc Sinh , Quang Nam always has many mechanisms and policies for startup - innovation ideas and projects to be implemented, in which Resolution No. 09/2020/NQ-HDND stipulates the content and level of support for building an innovative startup - innovation ecosystem in the province in the period of 2021 - 2025.

From this funding source, the Executive Board has organized many training courses for startup ideas and projects to guide them in building profiles, presentation skills, and defending ideas and projects at startup competitions at all levels... From 2021 to present, a provincial-level creative startup idea and project competition has been organized, attracting 216 ideas and projects from organizations and individuals to participate, and 86 startup ideas and projects have been recognized at the provincial level.

In addition, more than 80% of startup projects in Quang Nam are in the agricultural sector, so the Provincial Startup - Innovation Support Board has coordinated to organize forums, seminars, training, coaching... on knowledge and skills of creative startups such as the National Startup Forum in the 4.0 Revolution; Sustainable agricultural startups; Zero-waste tourism startups; Workshop on Solutions for building a local creative startup ecosystem... These activities aim to create a foundation of knowledge and skills for young people, students and the local startup community.

Resolution 09 supported start-up projects to participate in Quang Nam Creative Start-up Festival ( Techfest Quang Nam ), display start-up products, Start-up Festival... with a cost of nearly 2 billion VND. At the same time, calling for social support for start-up projects in the province with nearly 10 billion VND.

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/emagazine/emagazine-dau-tu-vao-nong-nghiep-bang-ca-khoi-oc-va-dam-me-140292.html