Old farmer in Son La applies technology, helping many people escape poverty

From medical staff to billionaire farmer

Walking around the 5ha orange and grapefruit garden, Mr. Hoang Van Chat (65 years old) shared that he used to be an officer of the Testing Department of Military Hospital 6. In 1989, he left the army and returned to his hometown to take care of his elderly mother and sick wife. At that time, his family owned nearly 5ha of barren, rocky hills, lacking water all year round, with few people passing by. Not resigned to poverty, Mr. Chat was determined to get rich right on his homeland.

At first, Mr. Hoang Van Chat tried growing rice, plums, apricots, coffee... but almost failed because of frost and harsh climate. Not discouraged, in 1998 he packed up and went to Hanoi to buy agricultural technical books, learn about soil and climate characteristics to choose suitable crops. After many years of persistent experimentation, he realized that citrus trees such as oranges and grapefruits were most suitable for the hilly soil of his hometown.

Grapefruit tree laden with fruit in Mr. Hoang Van Chat's garden.

“In 2012, I decided to cut down the entire area of coffee, plum, and apricot trees to switch to growing oranges and grapefruits. Initially, due to lack of capital, I only bought a few high-quality seedlings from gardeners in Hanoi , then grafted and gradually expanded them. Thanks to strict application of VietGAP procedures, prioritizing the use of organic fertilizers and biological products, and minimizing chemicals, the orange and grapefruit gardens have grown well, producing large, juicy, and delicious fruits.

I invested in digging wells to get clean water for watering the plants, and at the same time, I used agricultural by-products such as coffee husks and composted corn cobs as fertilizer. Although doing clean farming is more difficult, the result is good quality fruit, trusted by traders and consumers,” Mr. Chat shared.

By 2018, when the model was highly effective, he established Truong Tien Cooperative, specializing in producing and supplying clean fruits to large supermarkets in Hanoi, and providing seedlings to farmers in the Northwestern provinces. Currently, the cooperative has 22 members with more than 32 hectares of crops, of which 18 hectares are being harvested, all of which meet VietGAP standards.

Applying digital transformation in agricultural production

Mr. Hoang Van Chat's greatest success comes not only from his farming experience, but also from applying digital transformation to production, sales, and market expansion.

With a smartphone connected to the internet, he regularly visits official agricultural websites to update planting, fertilizing, pruning, and pest control techniques. “If you don’t know, go online to learn, there’s everything there. How to plant, how to care for, and even how to make organic fertilizer, there are detailed instructions,” Mr. Chat said happily.

Not only learning technology online, Mr. Chat also boldly invested in an irrigation system. automatically using Israeli technology, controlled via wifi or 4G. With just one button on the phone, his garden of more than 4 hectares is watered evenly, saving time, effort and limiting soil erosion. This system helps him save up to 40% of water compared to manual watering, while ensuring the plants always grow stably.

Mr. Hoang Van Chat converted digital product promotion and expanded product consumption market.

Not stopping at production, Mr. Chat also applies digital technology to expand the consumer market. He created Zalo, Facebook, and fanpage groups to promote products, introduce clean farming processes, and transparent product information to consumers. Thanks to that, customers in and outside the province can directly order, even come to the garden to buy.

“Since selling online, I no longer worry about output. Customers in Hanoi, Hai Phong, and even in the South also order oranges online. They trust me because they see that my garden is real and clean,” he shared.

Every year, his family's garden supplies the market with dozens of tons of oranges and grapefruits. In 2024 alone, the output reached nearly 230 tons, with revenue after deducting expenses reaching more than 1.8 billion VND. Truong Tien Cooperative also provides technical support, transfers irrigation technology, and provides fruit tree varieties; and guides poor and near-poor households in the commune and neighboring areas on how to care for them. Thanks to that, many households have had stable jobs, increased their income, and escaped poverty sustainably.

Mr. Chat invested in an automatic watering system using Israeli technology.

Mr. Nguyen Hai Son - Chairman of the People's Committee of Chieng Mai Commune - said: "Mr. Hoang Van Chat is one of the pioneer farmers in the movement of converting crop structure, applying digital technology to production and business. Not only is he good at economics, he also actively participates in social security activities, supporting poor households to develop the economy, eliminate hunger and reduce poverty."