Big win, many farmers become billionaires

Where durian is grown, there are billionaires.

Da Huoai durian in Lam Dong is one of the famous brands in Vietnam. Thanks to the cool climate, the growing period of durian is longer than usual, so the durian here is especially delicious.

With a 2-hectare Dona durian garden, Ms. Dinh Thi Hoa's family in Da Rsal commune, Dam Rong district (Lam Dong) has just earned 1.1 billion VND. Ms. Hoa said that 20 years ago, her family moved from Hanoi to Da Rsal to start a business. At that time, like many other farmers here, her family chose coffee trees to cultivate. However, the refrain "good harvest, low price, good price, bad harvest" made the coffee garden's income unstable. Seeing that some surrounding households growing durian brought high economic efficiency, she boldly bought 100 seedlings to try planting and did not expect that up to now this has become the main source of income for her family. With 90 durian trees bearing fruit, about 2 quintals/tree, the purchase price at the garden last season was 75,000 VND/kg, her durian garden brings in an income of more than 1 billion VND per year. Her family is planting 200 more trees. If the price remains stable as it is now, in a few years it will generate a few billion dong in income.

Ms. Dinh Thi Hoa (Da Rsal commune, Dam Rong district, Lam Dong) earns 1.1 billion VND from her durian garden.

Not far from Da Huoai, Mr. Ho Ngoc Hien, residing in Xuan Lap Ward, Long Khanh City ( Dong Nai ), is actively fertilizing, clearing branches, creating canopy, and sprouting for his durian garden of more than 2 hectares to prepare for the new crop. Previously, his garden was "leopard skin", intercropping many different types of trees, so the economic efficiency was not high. A few years ago, he converted 1 hectare to grow durian. Recently, durian had a good season and was officially exported, so the price was very good. Mr. Hien sold the whole 1 hectare garden to traders for up to 1.15 billion VND. "This is the first time I have achieved such a high income. Currently, all 2 hectares of my garden are durian and I expect to continue to have a good income next year. Growing durian requires techniques and takes a lot of care as well as higher costs than other crops, but the income is also better. This is a reasonable investment," Mr. Hien excitedly said.

Mr. Pham Van Nhanh (Phu An commune, Tan Phu district, Dong Nai) owns more than 7 hectares of durian, happily recounting that around 2000 he switched to growing durian. At that time, durian was a new crop, the future was unknown because it took 5 years to bear fruit, not to mention the care also faced many challenges and risks. Initially, durian yielded low productivity, there were many diseases, but he still persevered in learning techniques and gaining experience. After decades of growing durian, the barren land has now brought his family billions of dong in income from the durian growing model according to VietGAP standards. Currently, Mr. Nhanh's family's annual income from durian is over 4 billion VND, creating regular jobs for 20 workers and about 13 seasonal workers. He also actively guides cooperative members on production experience and the process of registering planting area codes to have a larger raw material area. "If you don't do it, you definitely won't succeed. If you do it, you may fail but you may also succeed," Mr. Nhanh said with a smile.

Mr. Nguyen Dung (Tan Kieu commune, Thap Muoi district, Dong Thap) earns billions thanks to off-season durian. Photo: Cong Han

In the West, which is considered the cradle of many fruit trees, the number of people becoming rich thanks to durian is even greater. The highlight is that durian in this region is not only harvested early (not yet available in Thailand) so it can be sold at a high price, but people also produce flowers out of season. Mr. Nguyen Dung (Tan Kieu commune, Thap Muoi district, Dong Thap) said: his family has about 700 durian trees on an area of ​​3.5 hectares, previously he intercropped with jackfruit. However, in recent years, jackfruit prices have been unstable while durian prices have been high, so he only keeps durian. Durian harvested in January - February costs over 100,000 VND/kg, so even though it is the first crop with low yield, the income still reaches over 1 billion VND/ha. "Currently, the garden is blooming. Hopefully, when the harvest time comes, the price will still be as good as it is now, so durian growers can survive. I still have 20 hectares (1 hectare = 1,000 square meters) of garden growing lemons intercropped with some other plants, preparing to switch to growing durian," said Mr. Dung.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Son, Director of Da M'ri Agricultural Cooperative (Da Huoai District, Lam Dong), said: The cooperative's greatest strength is durian. Currently, the cooperative's durian growing area is over 300 hectares. This year, thanks to the opening of the Chinese market, durian exports are favorable, with better prices than previous years, so people are very excited. Da Huoai durian is harvested from the end of May to the end of July. In the last crop, the entire cooperative harvested more than 11,000 tons of durian, and the bulk price was also 50,000 VND/kg. "The cooperative has 123 members, households with durian areas of at least 0.5 hectares, up to 10 hectares and commonly 3 hectares. On average, each hectare of durian brings in about 1 billion VND in income, so most cooperative members have billions of dong after the recent durian crop," Mr. Son confided.

Rice growers celebrate Tet

Besides durian, rice is still the hottest agricultural product. In the rice granary of the Western region, the price of many raw rice products has exceeded 9,000 VND/kg, almost double the normal price. Therefore, the income of rice farmers has improved significantly. Those with large production areas have truly enjoyed a bumper crop.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu, in Tan Hoa commune (Chau Thanh district, Dong Thap), said that at the end of September, he harvested summer-autumn rice on an area of ​​1.3 hectares. At that time, IR 50404 rice variety cost 8,000 VND/kg, he earned nearly 7 million VND/cong, minus expenses, he still made a profit of over 4 million VND/cong, almost double last year. This is the first time in his life that the autumn-winter rice crop has brought such a high income. Previously, this crop was only grown to make money to cover family expenses. Especially in the last 2 crops, when the rice just started to flower, traders came to negotiate the price and make deposits. "Currently, the price of many types of rice has reached 9,000 VND/kg, so everyone is excited to prepare for the new crop. We have planted the current winter-spring crop for more than 2 weeks, and according to schedule, it will be harvested before Tet. If the price of rice remains at the current level of 8,000 - 9,000 VND/kg, my family will have a more prosperous Tet than every year," Mr. Hieu shared.

With a good harvest and good prices, this year farmers in the Mekong Delta are excited to celebrate a big Tet. Photo by Cong Han

As a large producer, Mr. Nguyen Thanh An (Thoai Son District, An Giang) happily said: For almost the whole year, rice prices have remained high and have been continuously increasing. Around the beginning of April, the price of Japanese rice was from 7,500 - 8,000 VND/kg, Dai Thom was about 7,000 VND/kg, ST varieties were on average 6,500 - 7,000 VND/kg. With this price, farmers are guaranteed income, so everyone who grows rice is happy. Up to now, the local rice price has risen to over 9,000 VND/kg. This is the highest level ever, no one dared to think of it. "This year, the weather has been less rainy, so it is quite favorable for rice because it does not fall over much, and the yield is also better than usual. Currently, in Thoai Son area, people are preparing to plant the winter-spring crop, and in about 3 months they will harvest the new crop. Those who plant early can harvest right before Tet; those who plant late can harvest after Tet. With the current price trend, it is likely that people in the West will have a warm and prosperous Tet," said Mr. An.

Similarly, Mr. Dao Van Bay's household in Thanh Tri District (Soc Trang) has 2 hectares of rice fields. Since the beginning of the year, he has had two consecutive successful rice crops; the first crop of the year earned about 35 million VND/ha, the recent crop earned more than 40 million VND/ha. Thanks to that, the family has some accumulated capital after many years of working hard but still not having any surplus. "This year, the family can have a big Tet holiday," Mr. Bay said excitedly.

The winter-spring crop is considered the most important rice crop of the year in the Mekong Delta, often achieving the highest yield and quality of the year thanks to favorable weather. With current rice prices, rice farmers can "pocket" a profit of 40 - 50 million VND/ha/crop. With the advantage of short-term rice varieties, many places in the Mekong Delta can grow 3 consecutive crops/year, helping people earn a profit of over 100 million VND/ha/year. This is a great opportunity for rice farmers to improve their income in the context of economic difficulties. Currently, Vietnam's rice export price is still the highest in the world at over 650 USD/ton, thanks to its superior quality. According to forecasts, the world's rice consumption demand in 2024 will remain high and rice prices will hardly decrease before 2025.

Growing coffee earns billions

Another agricultural product that has reached its peak price this year is coffee. Mr. Nguyen Van Tao, in Dak Mil (Dak Nong), said that his family has been growing coffee for many years, but has never sold it for 55,000 - 60,000 VND/kg like the last time. After that, the price continued to increase to 65,000 - 67,000 VND, but unfortunately he ran out of goods. His family's replanted coffee yield reached 6 tons/ha. With the above price, he earned about 2 billion VND from 6 hectares of coffee, while replanted coffee only needs to be sold for 30,000 VND/kg to make a small profit. Therefore, this year, after deducting expenses, he made a profit of billions. "In December, coffee will continue to enter the early harvest season. If the price remains stable at this level, coffee growers will have a good income," he shared.

The planting area is not as large as Mr. Tao's family, but this year's coffee crop, Mr. Truong Ngoc Loi's family, residing in Cu M'gar District (Dak Lak), is also very happy because they have a good harvest of both durian and coffee. This year's coffee crop, Mr. Loi expects to harvest 6 tons, with a selling price of 12,000 VND/kg of fresh coffee, he will earn over 700 million VND. "In recent years, growing coffee has been a loss, sometimes the price dropped to 3,000 VND/kg, but this year the weather is favorable, production costs have also decreased but the price has increased, if I include the income from durian, I will also earn billions even though the garden area is not as large as other households", Mr. Loi confided.

The rising coffee prices are also the focus of attention of farmers. Mr. Do Ha Nam, Vice President of the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association, commented: "Currently, we are entering the coffee harvest season, and farmers want to sell at a high price, so they harvest early and sell while the coffee is still green. This reduces the quality and yield of coffee beans, but it cannot be prevented."

It can be said that this year is a year of good harvest and good prices, many agricultural products even set records in price, helping many farmers become billionaires./.

According to thanhnien.vn

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/thang-lon-hang-loat-nong-dan-thanh-ti-phu-185231112001348554.htm

Source: https://baolongan.vn/thang-lon-hang-loat-nong-dan-thanh-ti-phu-a166257.html