The person who sent the dragon fruit 'flying' far

Coming from hardship, when he became rich thanks to dragon fruit, Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh (An Binh hamlet, Hiep Thanh commune, Chau Thanh district, Long An province) wanted to "pull" others to become rich with him. With the efforts of the collective and each individual, the poor countryside of the past is now full of dragon fruit, becoming prosperous.

Director of Van Thanh Cooperative - Nguyen Van Thanh (An Binh Hamlet, Hiep Thanh Commune, Chau Thanh District) has contributed to bringing Chau Thanh dragon fruit to demanding markets around the world.

After being discharged from the army, Mr. Thanh got married. He and his wife farmed 3,000 square ^meters of rice fields that his parents gave them. "We were very poor at that time, so we had to eat first and pay later when farming," Mr. Thanh said. At that time, Chau Thanh district had a movement to grow dragon fruit, which was more effective than growing rice, so he tried his hand.

After researching and analyzing the reason why local farmers failed to grow dragon fruit due to technical issues, he focused on solving the problem and succeeded. Taking advantage of agricultural waste from rice cultivation, he composted organic fertilizer for dragon fruit; irrigation water and care techniques were also invested in systematically. Mr. Thanh's dragon fruit had high yields and sold well. Thanks to organic production, input costs were low. From the initial ^3,000m2 of land, he bought more, now nearly 4ha. Seeing Mr. Thanh's effectiveness in growing dragon fruit, farmers also boldly switched from rice to dragon fruit.

The dragon fruit area is large, but each farmer works independently and is not yet united, so traders often force down prices. In 2012, he mobilized a number of households to establish the Van Thanh Cooperative. At first, it was very difficult, some members did not believe so they withdrew their capital, causing him to suffer. Undaunted, Mr. Thanh found a way to export dragon fruit to Japan to avoid dependence on the Chinese market. To sell dragon fruit in Japan, it requires a strict production process and ensuring cleanliness. This coincides with Mr. Thanh's view of organic production.

Up to now, the entire Van Thanh Cooperative has 100 members growing 100 hectares of dragon fruit. He signed a contract to purchase dragon fruit directly from farmers, not through traders. It is estimated that for each kilogram of dragon fruit, farmers have a profit of 4,000-5,000 VND. Van Thanh Cooperative's dragon fruit is present in many demanding markets such as Japan, Korea, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, the US, etc.

Mr. Thanh said that since joining the cooperative, all members have been well-off and wealthy. During the Covid-19 pandemic , dragon fruit was destroyed in many places, but the cooperative's area was still guaranteed. "It is my joy and pride to be able to help myself and others," Mr. Thanh confided.

With his constant efforts, he was awarded the Third Class Labor Medal by the President for his outstanding achievements in the movement "Farmers compete in production, good business, solidarity to help each other get rich and sustainably reduce poverty"./.

Chau Thanh

Source: https://baolongan.vn/nguoi-dua-trai-thanh-long-bay-xa-a196058.html