Creating a dual value-added chain from linking agriculture and tourism

a1(3).jpg — Don Duong area is the largest vegetable granary in the province.

Chairing the 2025 cooperative economic forum, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Chi Dung, Head of the National Steering Committee on Collective Economy, reminded that "if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, you have to go together" to emphasize the particularly important role in linking resources and value chains.

Instead of purely agricultural production (planting - caring - harvesting - selling agricultural products), Mr. Phan Thanh Nhan in Quang Lap commune chose to integrate the agricultural value chain with the tourism value chain. Mr. Nhan said that the Don Duong area - including 4 communes: Don Duong, Quang Lap, Ka Do and D'ran - has a lot of potential for developing agricultural tourism, with a forest - garden - field ecosystem, along with a typical basin terrain, special agricultural products, and unique rural cultural practices. Before the district level ceased operations, Don Duong was the first district in the Central Highlands to meet the standards of a new rural district. The infrastructure here has been significantly improved, increasingly perfected, creating favorable conditions for accessing and enjoying cultural values, tourism values, and agricultural values. Another advantage is that Don Duong is about 35 km from Da Lat, with many means of transport, high traffic volume, and traveling between the two localities is very convenient. Don Duong is also the largest vegetable and root granary in the province.

Don Duong - the place with the largest concentration of Churu people in the province. There is also Ka Don Church - an architectural work that won the Second Prize in the 6th International Sacred Architecture Competition - 2016. Nature, culture, agricultural products, people - local resources for Don Duong to create a dual value chain when implementing the local agricultural tourism model. Mr. Phan Thanh Nhan emphasized that the problem here is to eliminate single thinking to switch to multi-thinking: multi-value, multi-resource, multi-link, multi-value chain. Developing this type of tourism to experience agricultural practices not only brings new experiences to tourists, but also helps farmers realize the multi-faceted values of farming - where agricultural practices are also a type of "commodity" that brings economic value to farmers, in addition to increasing the value of the agricultural chain through selling products to tourists.

Mr. Phan Duc Tri - a tour guide in Ho Chi Minh City shared: "Tourists are shifting from urban areas to rural areas - where there is a peaceful space and many indigenous cultural values to explore. However, human resources for developing agricultural tourism are still limited. People who have a deep understanding of agricultural practices have weak tourism skills. People with tourism skills are weak in agricultural practices. Therefore, linking the development of agricultural value chains with tourism value chains is very important."

Realizing the problem, Mr. Phan Thanh Nhan has linked up with 50 vegetable farmers in the Don Duong area to create an agricultural supply chain, as well as combined with the Churu cultural tourism site, with Churu artisans making pottery, making silver rings, brewing rice wine... to increase the experience for tourists. Mr. Nhan also linked up with a number of farms such as Bong Lai Farm (Hiep Thanh commune), Kien Huy Agricultural Tourism Farm (Lac Duong commune) and travel agencies, creating a chain of agricultural tourism products. Mr. Phan Thanh Nhan's statistics show that the number of tourists registering for accommodation increases by an average of 9 - 10%/year/unit, of which international visitors account for 12 - 13% of the total number of visitors. The average number of days of stay is 3 days or more. Creating a chain of agricultural and tourism value links has helped 73 local workers have jobs and stable income.

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