Ms. Bé (on the left) inspects and takes care of her banana garden.

While weeding her orchard, Ms. Truong Thi Be stopped working to show us around her more than 2-hectare garden. Despite the harsh winter weather, her orchard remained lush and full of fruit. The large garden was kept clean and the planting areas were well-organized, making it look very spacious and airy.

Born and raised in an agricultural area, with the advantage of ample land, after getting married, Ms. Bé decided to redevelop her family's garden land to cultivate medicinal melaleuca trees and build a VAC (Vietnamese acronym for garden, pond, and livestock) model. Before starting, she participated in learning about farming and livestock raising and boldly borrowed 100 million VND from the Social Policy Bank's entrusted funds through the women's channel.

Besides 3 hectares of rice paddies, 3 hectares of medicinal melaleuca trees, and 2 hectares of garden land, Ms. Bé has invested in improving the land to plant guava, oranges, bananas, etc., divided the land into areas for raising sows, and dug ponds for raising grass carp and silver carp.

Ms. Bé shared: “It was very hard when I first started. To grow fruit trees, you have to invest in improving the soil and installing a proper irrigation system. With limited capital, I couldn't do it all at once; I had to use short-term gains to support long-term growth. Around the farm and fish pond, I planted short-term vegetables. Then, I accumulated profits from livestock farming and reinvested them to expand the fruit tree plantation. The initial stages were also difficult due to diseases and fluctuating agricultural product prices. But I didn't give up. Now, my fruit orchard is yielding a stable harvest.”

Learning and gaining experience simultaneously – that's how Ms. Bé built and expanded her VAC (integrated farming system) model. As a result, her economic development model has now proven effective.

Ms. Bé also rebuilt the pig pens to be sturdy and well-organized, maintaining a stable population of 5 sows and several dozen fattening pigs per batch. Maintaining the sow population has allowed her to proactively secure a breeding stock for staggered rearing, so her farm consistently produces a batch of fattening pigs for sale every month.

It was from the fields of her homeland that Ms. Bé built a suitable and effective economic model, bringing a prosperous and comfortable life to her family, with a solid and spacious house, and raising five children to adulthood, all of whom went on to university.

Ms. Chau Thi Tuyet, Chairwoman of the Women's Union of Phong Son commune, commented: "Not only has she enriched herself and become a role model of a successful woman in the agricultural sector with her VAC (Garden-Pond-Livestock) economic model, but Ms. Be is also always ready to share her farming and livestock experience to help other members in the area develop their businesses. She is also a leading example in the activities of the Women's Union of the commune."

Text and photos: Thao Vy