Helping many households escape poverty by growing Taiwanese guava on sunny and windy hills

Born and raised in Son Tien commune ( Ha Tinh province), Nguyen Duy Sinh (40 years old) used to work many jobs in big cities. But after getting married, he decided to return to his hometown to start a business, carrying with him the desire to get rich from the barren hill land.

His wife, Ms. Bui Thi Mai (38 years old), a Muong ethnic (from Phu Tho ) also followed her husband to Ha Tinh and started a new life in the land of Lao wind with great difficulties. “At first, life was very poor. My husband and I lived on a few acres of land, growing peanuts, cassava, and raising small animals, but the income was not worth much,” Ms. Mai shared.

Ms. Bui Thi Mai next to the guava garden full of fruit.

In 2020, after visiting many fruit tree growing models in the Northern provinces and carefully researching, Mr. Sinh decided to "bet" his future on the Taiwanese pear guava variety.

He pooled all his savings and borrowed nearly 100 million VND to invest in seeds and renovate more than 1,500 square meters of fields and gardens to grow guava. Instead of choosing traditional farming methods, he and his wife focused on improving the soil with organic and biological fertilizers, designing a drainage system, and creating low canopies for easy care and harvesting.

“At first, I only wanted to sell a few fruits to earn money for the market, but unexpectedly the tree suited the soil and climate. The fruits are big, crispy and sweet, and customers who tried them all praised them. My wife and I were happy and determined to expand the area,” Sinh shared.

After the first successful crop, in 2021, Mr. Sinh and his wife continued to expand the area to 3,000m². By 2023, he boldly established the Son Tien General Agricultural Cooperative with 10 members, both growing guava and supplying seedlings to people in the area.

Thanks to the guava growing model, it has helped households escape poverty, opening up a new direction for local agriculture.

Currently, the cooperative has expanded to 5 hectares, of which 2 hectares are being harvested regularly. Sinh's family alone cultivates 2 hectares with nearly 700 guava trees. On average, each year, the guava garden harvests about 15 tons of fruit, sold at the garden at prices ranging from 10,000 - 20,000 VND/kg depending on the time. After deducting expenses, the profit reaches over 200 million VND/year.

Not only stopping at selling fresh fruit, they also use guava leaves and young buds to make guava tea, a value-added product that is being tested and receiving positive feedback from the market.

“We are designing packaging, making packaged tea, and moving towards building our own brand. Tea from young guava buds has many uses, and the family is aiming to expand production in the long term,” Ms. Mai shared.

According to Mr. Sinh, to improve his techniques, he often visits large gardens to learn from their experiences, follows agricultural channels online, and participates in technical training courses organized by the locality.

Thanks to mastering the techniques of canopy shaping, topping, and pruning, guava trees give stable yields all year round. 3-5 year old trees yield 30-50kg/tree/year, 1-2 year old young trees also yield 5-10kg/tree. Planting distance of 2.5-3m helps the garden to be airy, less susceptible to pests and diseases, easy to care for and harvest.

Not keeping their experiences to themselves, Sinh and his wife are willing to share techniques, provide seedlings and advise many households in the commune. Thanks to that, more and more poor and near-poor households have boldly switched to growing guava, gradually forming a concentrated guava growing area in Son Tien.

Currently, Mr. Sinh’s cooperative is building a model garden combined with experiential tourism, bringing tourists to visit, pick guava in the garden, and enjoy clean guava tea. This is identified as a new direction to connect agriculture with services, increasing the value of rural products.