Not only is he the one who sowed many unique plant varieties in Binh Phuoc, Mr. Nguyen Viet Vi also founded S'Tieng Farm - a place where the province's OCOP elite converges.
Farmer's companion
In the days approaching the Lunar New Year 2024, I went to the border district of Bu Dop (Binh Phuoc) to ask about Mr. Nguyen Viet Vi, Director of Phuoc Thien Cooperative, Chairman of the Binh Phuoc Billionaire Farmers Club, everyone knows him. Because with an open mindset, Mr. Vi not only enriches himself and the cooperative, but also does not hesitate to share experiences, varieties, transfer technical advances, and sell products to many people inside and outside the province, helping Many people changed their lives.
Mr. Vi next to the red-fleshed jackfruit garden in Bu Dop border district, Binh Phuoc province. Image: Tran Trung.
Taking us to visit a well-planned garden of hundreds of hectares with all kinds of plants considered "unusual", Mr. Nguyen Viet Vi said that since 2006, he has successfully planted and propagated plants. Red-fleshed guava. This is considered one of the products that once "made waves" on the market and contributed to creating unique brand value for Binh Phuoc agricultural products.
Also from his dynamism, creativity, and eagerness to learn, in 2016, he continued to launch the golden star apple variety - a fruit with golden color, strong sweetness, and cool flavor. Not only that, this star apple variety also has high yields, good resistance to pests and diseases, and the commercial price of star apple fruit always fluctuates at a high level from 50 to 100 thousand VND/kg. Immediately, golden star apple became a potential crop, creating new directions locally.
Golden Star apple, a potential crop in Binh Phuoc. Image: Tran Trung.
Not stopping yet, in 2019, from many different jackfruit genetic sources, Mr. Vi bred and produced a high-quality red-fleshed jackfruit line under the brand name PT79. The superiority of this jackfruit variety is good disease resistance, early fruiting, and stable yield. After its birth, this jackfruit variety was protected and recognized as originating in Binh Phuoc by the Department of Crop Production (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), and also certified copyright by the Department of Intellectual Property.
"Currently, the cooperative has cooperated with farmers to produce over 2.000 hectares of jackfruit. There are times when the price of red-fleshed jackfruit is up to over 150 VND/kg. Just planting 10 jackfruit trees can bring in much more income than that. with 1 hectare of cashew nuts, since then it has helped many people change their lives," Mr. Nguyen Viet Vi shared.
Mr. Vi shares varieties and techniques for producing red-fleshed jackfruit with people inside and outside the province. Image: Tran Trung.
Good reputation spreads far and wide, in recent years, Phuoc Thien Cooperative has become a familiar destination in the journey of sightseeing, practical experience, organizing events, and field-based scientific seminars for teachers and students of institutes, universities in Ho Chi Minh City and many provinces and cities nationwide.
Agricultural economic thinking
Mr. Nguyen Viet Vi confided that, as a true farmer, more than anyone else, he understands the difficulties of farmers who lose their harvest when they have a good harvest, and who lose their harvest when they gain a good price. With the goal of sustainable development and adaptation to the market, Phuoc Thien Cooperative not only specializes in cultivating fruit trees with high economic value but also focuses on deep processing, gradually building a brand for farmers. local produce.
Mr. Nguyen Viet Vi founded S'Tieng Farm - a place where the elite of OCOP Binh Phuoc converges. Image: Tran Trung.
Accordingly, to improve product value, Mr. Vi has devoted a lot of effort to deep processing the product and launched "one-of-a-kind" products such as dried jackfruit - one of the first products to be certified. 1-star OCOP along with other unique products such as jackfruit pate, salad, sausage, jackfruit sausage with main ingredients from jackfruit, these new products have been recognized as typical rural industrial products by Binh Phuoc province. "Deep processing of products not only helps the cooperative solve the problem of preserving agricultural products, but also increases income for members," Mr. Vi said excitedly.
In particular, under the inspiration from Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan about agricultural economic thinking, "if you want to go far, go together", as Chairman of Binh Duong Billionaire Farmers Club Phuoc, Mr. Vi boldly stood up to mobilize members of the Cooperative and the Club to establish stores specializing in selling OCOP products, creating a playground for farmers inside and outside the province, gradually bringing typical local products closer to consumers.
After many years of incubation, with the consensus of the Standing Committee of Binh Phuoc Provincial Farmers' Union, the attention, coordination and support of the Trade and Tourism Promotion Investment Center and Binh Phuoc Provincial Post Office, on On January 9, the Billionaire Farmers Club - Phuoc Thien Cooperative held the opening of a store introducing and distributing typical products, OCOP and regional specialties S'Tieng Farm in the center of Dong city. Mango. Immediately, the store created a buzz. In just a short time, the store gathered more than 1 OCOP items of all kinds from more than 300 partners from inside and outside the province.
In addition to direct sales, most products have QR codes for traceability, this is the foundation for S'Tieng Farm to digitize online sales. Image: Tran Trung.
Holding the "sold out" dried jackfruit product in his hand, Mr. Nguyen Viet Vi said that in addition to direct sale, most products have QR codes for traceability, this is the foundation for S'Tieng. Farm organizes an online agricultural market via livestream. At the same time, S'Tieng Farm has completely applied the software sales management method, helping with internal management, from import - export to sales, limiting loss and deviation of goods. Along with that, take advantage of electronic marketing channels, marketing, online sales on e-commerce platforms, websites, social networks, electronic payments...
"Thanks to the application of digital sales, through a few "touches", people can sit at home or anywhere and can make online purchases without using cash, both quickly and at a lower cost. expense. Up to now, this method has shown to be effective and suitable for the consumption habits of the majority of people. They care about product traceability information, prefer clean, healthy products, and rich designs...
The number of customers as well as fellow cooperatives coming to S'Tieng Farm is increasing, showing that S'Tieng Farm's development path is on the right track," Mr. Nguyen Viet Vi said excitedly.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh and leaders of Binh Phuoc province visited and encouraged S'Tieng Farm. Image: Tran Trung.
Continuing the success, with the motto of cohesion, harmonization of benefits, and sharing of risks, on February 1, a clean food store called Cyber farm continued to be launched in Binh Long town, attracting a lot of attention. new vitality for the local agricultural industry.
Ms. Nguyen Thanh Phuong - Director of Binh Phuoc Provincial Cooperative Alliance assessed that, in addition to improving efficiency through promoting and consuming agricultural products, digital technology helps cooperatives more conveniently learn technical skills. techniques, market research, production cooperation... This is an important condition that contributes to gradually transforming traditional agriculture into modernity, creating many opportunities to increase labor productivity and reduce dependence on conditions. environmental conditions, weather, disease control. The changes of Phuoc Thien Cooperative have contributed to the good implementation of agricultural, farmer and rural development programs and plans of the province and each locality.
