Through research, we learned that the pioneer who brought chayote to plant and green the bare hills here was Mr. Pham Quang Tho (a native of Phu Tho province who came to settle in the highland commune of Lao Chai).
Mr. Tho is 48 years old this year. Previously, he was an officer of the Mu Cang Chai Forest Protection Management Board. With the nature of his work planting and protecting forests, he has been through many abandoned mountain areas. Realizing that these abandoned mountain areas can generate income, Mr. Tho always wondered: "Why not take advantage of this land fund to plant suitable trees, both to generate income and to preserve the land, preserve the forest, and prevent soil erosion?"
Thinking is doing, in 2007, after buying 5 hectares of abandoned land from the people, Mr. Pham Quang Tho started planting Son Tra. After 10 years of planting, Mr. Tho realized that this type of tree did not bring economic efficiency, making family life still difficult.
In 2017, through research, he learned that chayote is an easy-to-grow plant that adapts well to hilly terrain and can be harvested year-round. He decided to cut down part of the Son Tra tree area, borrow money to buy seeds, buy steel wire, and bamboo poles to build a trellis on an area of 2 hectares to grow chayote.
At first, many people doubted and even laughed at him, saying he was taking a risk by planting chayote, which only likes humidity and cold weather, on a high mountainside, where the wind is strong, the frost is thick, and there is a lack of water. But he was determined, working hard every day from early morning to dig holes, pull ropes to make trellises, mound the roots, and fertilize.
Not in vain, after only nearly 1 year, the first 2 hectares of chayote have produced a lot of fruit. Every day, his family harvests about 1 ton of chayote, with the selling price ranging from 8,000 - 10,000 VND/kg, in the first year, he earned a profit of nearly 800 million VND.
Seeing the obvious results, he bought more land and expanded the planting area. Now, his family has 16 hectares of chayote. For convenient care, he invested in a root irrigation system, sturdy trellises for the chayote to climb sustainably, and built roads for easy harvesting and transportation.
This chayote area has created regular jobs for 30 to 40 local workers, with an income of 6 - 7.5 million VND/person/month. Mr. Lo A Di in Hu Tru Linh village, Lao Chai commune shared: "I was hired by Mr. Tho with a salary of 7.5 million VND/month, helping my family have a stable life. In addition to the time to harvest the fruit, we were also instructed by Mr. Tho on how to plant and care for chayote plants."
In 2022, Mr. Pham Quang Tho established the T&D Clean Agriculture Cooperative and expanded the area by investing capital, seedlings, and fertilizers to help 5 households in Hang Gang and Hu Tru Linh villages plant 15 hectares.
Mr. Giang A Hong, Hang Gang village confided: "Mr. Tho helped me plant nearly 2 hectares of chayote. Mr. Tho also helped me find a place to sell the fruit. Every day, my family earns more than 3 million VND from selling the fruit."
Not stopping at developing chayote, Mr. Tho is also preparing to build a greenhouse to grow vegetables and fruits with high economic value, and at the same time finding outlets for people to collect and sell in large quantities, helping them avoid being forced to lower prices, increasing product value, and creating stable jobs for local workers.
Mr. Tho shared: "Our cooperative plans to continue expanding the area for people. We will deploy in areas where we can grow crops to create a large volume of goods to meet market demand."
Mr. Hang Dinh Thu, Chairman of Lao Chai Commune People's Committee commented: "Mr. Tho pioneered in planting chayote in barren land, bringing economic efficiency, contributing to opening up economic development directions for people in the commune to follow, thereby increasing income."
Thanks to his boldness, creativity, daring to think and dare to do, Mr. Pham Quang Tho has turned the barren hills into lush green chayote gardens, opening up a new direction in agricultural economic development associated with sustainable environmental protection in Lao Chai commune.
Source: https://baolaocai.vn/nguoi-mang-cay-su-su-phu-xanh-doi-troc-post649648.html
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