Help women create livelihoods and develop production

Recently, many rural women in the provinces and cities of the Mekong Delta have boldly established cooperatives and cooperative groups to exploit local resources for production and business, striving to become rich in their homeland. Thereby, contributing to creating jobs for many rural women, reducing the situation of leaving their hometowns to work far away...

Create new products to increase value

In recent months, many domestic and international tourists to Can Tho City have expressed their interest in the "duck massage" service recently put into operation by the women at Con Son Agricultural Tourism Cooperative (Binh Thuy Ward).

Thuy Tuyet Bamboo and Rattan Cooperative (Thuan Hoa Commune, Can Tho City) trains rural women in weaving.

The garden is about 1 hectare wide and is planted with fruit trees such as durian, grapefruit, and star apple in an organic way to serve the tourism of Ms. Bui Thuy Lieu, owner of Phuong My garden and also Deputy Director of Con Son Agricultural Tourism Cooperative. Here, Ms. Lieu built more wooden huts above, under the garden ditch she raises a flock of more than 30 grass ducks (local duck breed). These ducks are the "employees" who massage tourists; therefore, they are very close to everyone.

Ms. Lieu said: "It takes a lot of time and effort to train them to be bold and not afraid to run away when seeing strangers." Through research, Ms. Lieu discovered that the grass ducks are gentle, have a cute gait, and are close to the farmers on the river. So she built a wooden stilt house on the garden ditch, designed seats and footrests for tourists. Then, she bought a flock of grass ducks about 2 weeks old to train, and persistently practiced for nearly 2 months to get them used to people. Every day, she spread pellets on her feet, then sat still for the ducks to come and eat; gradually, she instructed them to use their beaks to peck at her feet, creating a very unique massage feeling. When they showed proficiency, she began to open the door to welcome tourists to a new service in Con Son - "duck massage".

Not only domestic guests but also many international guests feel happy and refreshed when receiving duck massage. A new experience from the familiar, familiar ducks.

Ms. Phan Kim Ngan, Director of Con Son Agricultural Tourism Cooperative, shared: “Recently, Con Son has attracted visitors with flying snakehead fish models, fish massage, frog circus, buffalo that nods to greet visitors... these are animals close to the river region of the West, through training to create new tourism products that do not overlap with other localities. To continue introducing new tourism products, this time the Cooperative chose the service of "duck massage". I am very happy that in recent months, many tourists coming to Con Son want to experience this new service, especially international visitors who really like animals."

Keeping women in the countryside

Ms. Le Thi Phuong Thao, owner of the Uzu mat weaving and handicrafts facility Tan Phu Hung (An Phu commune, An Giang province), said: “This area is near the border with Cambodia, most of the people are farmers but there is not much land so life is difficult. In recent times, many women have left their hometown to work far away, leaving their children with their grandparents, so there is a lack of people to look after and take care of them. Starting from that, for decades now, Tan Phu Hung mat weaving facility has made efforts to expand production to create jobs for many rural women.”

Initially, her weaving facility was handmade, with two skilled weavers weaving only three finished mats per day. Later, she borrowed more capital to invest in dozens of weaving machines, helping the facility's 30 workers produce many times more mats. In addition to Uzu mats, Thao also expanded the production of cotton mats, folding travel mats, Uzu baskets, handbags, laptop bags, slippers, hats, wallets, etc. The price of each product ranges from 50,000 to 450,000 VND, depending on size and design. "In addition to consumption in the Western provinces, in recent years, the facility has also provided many products to tourist destinations and businesses in Ho Chi Minh City exporting handicrafts to the Asian market. Currently, the facility has received many orders, creating jobs for dozens of rural women, with stable income," Thao shared.

Ms. Thao also said that in the past time, the facility has received encouragement and support from local authorities, exhibitions and major events... the facility's products have been facilitated to be introduced, expanding partners and customers; at the same time, exchanging and learning business experiences. In addition to production, the facility will focus on investing in attracting tourists to visit traditional craft villages.

At Hieu Phat Agricultural Service Cooperative (Vinh Phong commune, An Giang province), run by women, it has also grown steadily, creating more jobs for many workers. Ms. Le Thi Kim Thoa, Director of the Cooperative, said that it is producing 7 products that meet 3-star OCOP standards such as dried shrimp, dried snakehead fish, dried goby fish, snakehead fish sauce, sour shrimp sauce, and pickled water fern... At the same time, it produces 40 hectares of clean rice combined with aquaculture, thanks to which the annual revenue is estimated at about 7.8 billion VND. In addition, every month the Cooperative also produces about 10,000-15,000 handicraft products made from water hyacinth and water fern, contributing to creating jobs for more than 200 rural women in the locality with an income of about 5 million VND/person/month. “Recently, the Cooperative received preferential capital support from the Social Policy Bank and Thien Tam Fund of more than 1.5 billion VND to invest in trucks to transport goods, equip dryers and expand the factory to boost production and processing of dried shrimp, dried fish, etc. to serve the upcoming 2026 Tet market,” said Ms. Thoa.

The day we visited Thuy Tuyet Bamboo and Rattan Cooperative (Thuan Hoa Commune, Can Tho City), we witnessed many domestic and foreign tourists showing interest in hundreds of eye-catching bamboo handicraft products being promoted at the Cooperative's exhibition area. According to Ms. Truong Thi Bach Thuy, Director of the Cooperative, there are currently over 700 bamboo products that have been upgraded in design by women into familiar items for daily use in families, restaurants, and hotels, both durable and environmentally friendly; prices vary from a few thousand VND to several million VND/product. In addition, the Cooperative also undertakes the design and construction of homestays, tourist areas, resorts... made of bamboo for customers in the Mekong Delta and the Southeast. Recently, it has opened an additional experience service to learn about the traditional bamboo weaving craft, enjoy the cuisine and art culture of the local Khmer people. “Thanks to the dynamism and diversity of our products, we create jobs for hundreds of rural women, including many Khmer women, to stabilize their lives locally and no longer leave their hometowns to work far away. This is also the goal that the cooperative strives for in an effort to preserve traditional crafts, enhance the value of bamboo and take better care of women's lives…”, Ms. Thuy confided.

Article and photos: PHUOC BINH

Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/giup-phu-nu-tao-sinh-ke-phat-trien-san-xuat-a194733.html