“Outstanding Vietnamese Farmers” in Ya Ly land

08/12/2023 14:09

In July 2023, Mr. Bui Van Quyen (born in 1967, Tum village, Ya Ly commune, Sa Thay district) was honored to be the only representative of Kon Tum province to be recognized by the Vietnam Farmers' Association as "Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer" in 2003. This is a worthy reward for his efforts, daring to think, daring to do, and constantly learning and improving over the past 30 years.

“Setting foot on Kon Tum land since the 1990s, I was very impressed with the vast land and fertile soil of Tum village, Ya Ly commune. After being discharged from the army, I was determined to stay here. At that time, I applied for 5 hectares of land from the district to reclaim land to grow rubber trees” - Mr. Bui Van Quyen recalled the first days of leaving his hometown of My Duc (formerly Ha Tay province) to go to Kon Tum to start a business.

His family's rubber trees grew well, he continued to expand the area, gradually after nearly 10 years, his family developed 30 hectares. As the person with the second largest rubber area in Sa Thay district, with a stable income, but when he learned that farmers in other provinces had very high incomes while the cultivated land area was much smaller, Mr. Quyen decided to change the crop structure.

Mr. Bui Van Quyen next to his family's durian garden. Photo: VT

“Reading newspapers and listening to the radio, I wondered why farmers in other places could earn more from just a few hectares of land than from dozens of hectares of rubber trees. To find out, I traveled to many provinces and cities to find out and realized that they did not monoculture one type of tree, so they decided to cut down some of the low-yielding perennial rubber trees and switch to growing fruit trees,” said Mr. Quyen.

Ms. Du Thi Thanh Van - Mr. Quyen's wife said: At first, I objected because if I planted new trees, it would cost a lot of money, lose income and have to wait a few years to harvest. Then he took me to Dak Lak to visit and learn from his experience and continued to persuade me, and finally I agreed with this method.

In 2017, Mr. Quyen converted 20 hectares of rubber, improved the soil and planted fruit trees, mainly durian. Determined to take care of durian organically, he did not use chemical fertilizers.

In 2021, the organic durian garden yielded 80 tons and received many compliments from the government, relatives, and friends. Mr. Quyen decided to build VietGAP standards for his family's durian products, then continued to participate in the One Commune One Product (OCOP) Program, and was recognized as a 3-star OCOP product at the provincial level.

Not stopping there, he continued to travel to other provinces to learn how to grow durian for export. Finally, he chose to register a durian growing area code to export to China.

According to him, registering a growing area code is not easy because it requires going through many strict direct inspections by the Plant Protection Department, from the use of fertilizers, pesticides, and weed control. At the end of 2022, his durian area will be licensed for export to China.

Up to now, with an area of 20 hectares of durian and 10 hectares of rubber, Mr. Quyen's family has earned a profit of about 2.2 billion VND/year. Not only that, his economic model also helps create regular jobs for 9 workers and seasonal jobs for 25 workers.

Mr. Le Thanh Hai - Vice Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Sa Thay district said: With the efforts of farmer Bui Van Quyen, in 2021, he was recognized as an excellent production and business household at the provincial level. Last July, Mr. Quyen was honored to be recognized by the Vietnam Farmers' Association as "Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer" in 2023. Not only good at developing the family economy, Mr. Quyen also actively participates in building new rural areas, contributing to the social security fund, the local Farmers' Support Fund, and is willing to share experiences and help other farmers develop their economy.

Van Tung

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