Ms. Be (left) checks and takes care of her banana garden.

While clearing the weeds in the orchard, when she saw us coming, Ms. Truong Thi Be stopped to show us around her 2-hectare orchard. Although the winter weather was quite harsh, Ms. Be's orchard was still green and full of fruit. The garden was large but she kept it clean and divided the planting areas reasonably, so it looked very airy.

Born and raised on agricultural land, with the advantage of large land, after getting married, Ms. Be intended to re-plan her family's garden land to grow medicinal cajuput and build a VAC model. Before starting to work, she participated in learning experiences in planting and raising livestock and boldly borrowed 100 million VND from the capital of the Social Policy Bank entrusted through the women's channel.

Besides 3 hectares of rice land, 3 hectares of medicinal melaleuca land, 2 hectares of garden land, Ms. Be has invested in land improvement to grow guava, orange, banana..., divided the sow breeding area, dug ponds to raise grass carp, silver carp...

Ms. Be shared: “It was very difficult when I first started. Because to grow fruit trees, I had to invest in improving the soil and installing a suitable irrigation system. With little capital, I couldn’t do it all at once, but had to use the short term to support the long term. Around the farm and fish pond, I planted short-term vegetables. Then I would accumulate the profits from livestock farming and reinvest them to expand the area of ​​fruit trees. The first stage was also difficult, due to the epidemic and unstable agricultural prices. But I didn’t get discouraged. Up to now, my fruit garden has produced a stable harvest.”

Learning while doing and gaining experience is how Ms. Be built and expanded her VAC model. Now her economic development model has brought about results.

Ms. Be also rebuilt the livestock barn solidly and reasonably, maintaining a stable cage of 5 sows and several dozen pigs per litter. Maintaining the sow farming has helped her proactively source breeds for breeding, so every month, her farm has a litter of pigs for sale.

Also from her hometown's fields, Ms. Be has built a suitable and effective economic model, bringing a prosperous and warm family life, a solidly built and spacious house, raising 5 children to adulthood, all of whom have gone on to university.

Ms. Chau Thi Tuyet, President of the Women's Union of Phong Son commune commented: "Not only enriching herself, being an example of a woman who is good at business and successful with the VAC economic model, Ms. Be is also always willing to share her experiences in farming and raising livestock to develop the economy for other members in the area. She is also a pioneer in the movements of the Women's Union of the commune."

Article and photos: Thao Vy