Organic vegetables grown by women in Phong Luu hamlet.

In the Dongxing region, where the sea breeze blows relentlessly year-round, these women have boldly shifted their focus to growing organic vegetables, enriching themselves on their homeland.

According to Ms. Tran Thi Lieu, Head of the Women's Association in Phong Luu hamlet, Dong Hung commune, the hamlet has 13 women's groups with 353 members. The members mainly engage in agriculture, livestock farming, and small-scale trading, and still face many economic difficulties. To create jobs and increase income for the women, the association encourages members to improve the land and plant different types of vegetables for sale depending on the season, such as onions, chives, water spinach, herbs, cabbage, watermelon, etc. The vegetables are planted in a staggered manner so that they can be harvested daily.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhat stands beside a lush green row of water spinach, ready for harvest. Photo: Ut Chuyen

“Thanks to the hard work of the women, who both cultivate vegetables and learn from experience, the model is developing more and more. On average, each woman supplies the market with 150-200 kg of various types of clean vegetables per month, earning between 500,000 and 800,000 VND per day depending on market prices. The lives of the members are becoming more stable, and they have more income for their families,” said Ms. Nguyen Thi Day, President of the Women's Union of Dong Hung commune.

In her garden of over 1,000 square ^meters , Mrs. Bui Thi Bay carefully tends to her rows of cabbage and lush green corn. Under the afternoon sun, beads of sweat roll down her tanned face, but her smile is radiant because the vegetables are fetching good prices this season. Mrs. Bay recounted: “Previously, my family's life was very precarious, relying solely on my husband's income from fishing. Each trip lasted a week; if we were lucky, we'd earn a little, but if we encountered storms, we'd lose everything. I stayed home to take care of the children and do odd jobs, earning very little. Sometimes I thought that the fate of women in coastal areas would just be like this, but then I told myself that if I didn't change, life would remain poor forever. I looked around the overgrown land behind my house and decided to transform it into a clean vegetable garden. Initially, I planted a few rows of water spinach, sweet cabbage, and corn for my family to eat. Surprisingly, the vegetables grew well, and neighbors came to buy them. Seeing the potential, I boldly invested capital to grow more vegetables.”

Ms. Bui Thi Bay tends to her corn crop. Photo: Ut Chuyen

From her first vegetable plots, Mrs. Bay boldly learned organic farming techniques, using manure and minimizing the use of pesticides. With the support of the Women's Union of the commune, she participated in training courses on safe vegetable production and gradually expanded her farming scale. Today, her vegetable garden generates over 10 million VND in income per month, a dream figure for a woman's household in this coastal area.

Not only Mrs. Bay, but currently, the entire Phong Luu hamlet has 10 female members participating in the clean vegetable farming model. From a few small vegetable beds in their home gardens, many households have now expanded into concentrated production areas with automatic sprinkler irrigation systems, sunshade nets, and care procedures that ensure safety standards. Utilizing 500 square ^meters of vacant land behind her house to grow vegetables, Ms. Nguyen Thi Xieu said: “Initially, I was worried that coastal land is often saline and that I wouldn't be able to grow vegetables. But with guidance from the women in the hamlet on techniques and suitable seeds, I tried growing cabbage, amaranth, watermelon, and spinach, and the first harvest yielded over 5 million dong in profit. Now my family grows vegetables year-round, providing us with clean vegetables to eat and sell, allowing us to save money.”

The women here are not only successful in business but also spread a spirit of self-reliance and self-improvement within the community. They transform barren coastal land into lush green vegetable gardens, turning the worry of "saline soil and acidic water" into motivation to rise up and affirm the role of women in rural economic development.

UT CHUYEN

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/rau-sach-cua-phu-nu-ap-phong-luu-a466246.html