From the small pepper vine in the corner of the garden, the farmer in Ba Ria

“Cha đẻ” tiêu Bầu Mây và ước mơ đưa nông sản Việt chinh phục thế giới - Ảnh 1.

Journey to start a business with pepper

One morning, I followed a group of artists from Ba Ria-Vung Tau province to visit new rural areas in Xuyen Moc district. We came to a vast pepper area, with white columns of sunlight interwoven between rows of green pepper leaves and clusters of densely packed seeds. In the middle of that lush green garden, a farmer with a scholarly appearance was attentively mixing organic fertilizer in a rather large barrel. On the surface of the barrel, a strange opaque yellow color appeared, so I stopped and asked curiously: "What kind of fertilizer are you using that I see a strange color?". He stopped and smiled as he replied: "This is a traditional organic fertilizer to water pepper plants!"

Someone in the group recognized this as farmer Lam Ngoc Nham - the founder of the famous Bau May pepper brand in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province. Mr. Nham is also nicknamed "Star god of agriculture", a billionaire farmer, the "father" of Bau May pepper. The whole group stopped to chat with him right in the pepper garden.

He told us that he was born in Tuyen Quang , his family had 12 siblings, in order of siblings he was the eighth. One time his father went to Xuyen Moc district to visit relatives, seeing that this was a place with a stable climate, fertile land, and soil suitable for crops including pepper, he decided to move his family from the North to the South to live and work. Nham's parents quickly bought a piece of land to build a house and started reclaiming the forest land. Wherever they reclaimed, they planted trees. Soon Nham's family had a 3-hectare garden. It was a mixed garden, growing all kinds of trees: longan, rambutan, coffee, pepper, durian, jackfruit, mango, cashew... and raising pigs and chickens.

“Cha đẻ” tiêu Bầu Mây và ước mơ đưa nông sản Việt chinh phục thế giới - Ảnh 2. — Partners from Dubai come to work with Director Lam Ngoc Nham. Photo: TH

While his family and the villagers had to “sweat and cry” to get the fruits of their labor, traders were squeezing the price. That situation made the young man Lam Ngoc Nham sleepless many nights thinking: “I have to do something to develop the economy for my own family, as well as for the people around me so that everyone can stabilize their lives better together.”

I suddenly asked: "Why did you name the pepper Bau May? I don't think that name is related to this land?". He laughed heartily: "Of course it is. My career has developed like this today thanks to the name Bau May, guys!".

Then he slowly told us the story: When he first came to his family, he grew all kinds of plants, including pepper. The garden was mixed with uneven plants, so the harvest was not high. At that time, the movement to convert pepper cultivation broke out strongly, urging his family to convert 3 hectares of garden to pepper cultivation. At that time, he discovered a pepper vine growing very tall with large, strong roots, a bunch of heavy seeds, and no pests or diseases. Discovering a good variety of plant, he monitored it for many years and saw that the pepper plant gave a high harvest. Therefore, he named the pepper plant Bau May. The brand name Bau May pepper was the first step in starting a business and also a big turning point to get rich, helping him succeed until today.

Sweet fruit seasons

“Cha đẻ” tiêu Bầu Mây và ước mơ đưa nông sản Việt chinh phục thế giới - Ảnh 3. — Director Lam Ngoc Nham is checking the quality of pepper. Photo: TH

With the above successes, Mr. Lam Ngoc Nham has been awarded many certificates of merit by the province, the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance; and the State awarded him the Third Class Labor Medal. He was also recognized as a Farmer's Scientist by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union .

It takes 18 months to propagate Bau May pepper, unlike the common pepper on the market, Bau May pepper is propagated gradually and tested on each plot of land. Mr. Nham does not change in bulk but changes in a rolling manner. In particular, Bau May pepper vines are very strong, the roots grow 7-10 times faster than normal pepper and are not affected by pests or diseases. After 7 years of research and learning through the Agricultural Extension Center, Southern Institute of Agricultural Sciences, finally with perseverance, passion for research and learning, Mr. Nham has found a new pepper variety, which is Bau May pepper.

Bau May pepper variety is developed under strict control, cared for separately for experiments and using organic fertilizer for pepper. Organic fertilizer is self-made by him using egg embryos and crabs to fertilize pepper plants. Therefore, Bau May pepper has a fairly high yield, from 10 - 12 tons/ha and the value is more than 50 times higher than normal pepper. Up to now, Mr. Nham has linked with households to grow more than 1,700ha of pepper.

The harvested pepper is completely dried in the sunlight, bringing high value and nutritional content to the finished pepper he invented. He also transformed the raw pepper spice product into a magical, high-class pepper, the quintessence of pepper, and divided it into 6 levels of spiciness: Milk pepper, salted pepper, salted green pepper, one-sun pepper, seedless pepper, and crispy green pepper.

Mr. Nham showed us that under the Bau May pepper tree are the roots of the Chinese yam (yam) that are grown symbiotically in the pepper garden because the yam prefers the shade of the tree. It took him nearly 8 years of research to find an underground drainage system for the pepper garden. When the Chinese yam has horizontal roots, the tree grows and the roots penetrate deeply to create cracks, this is the best underground drainage system for pepper, keeping moisture and making the soil loose.

“Cha đẻ” tiêu Bầu Mây và ước mơ đưa nông sản Việt chinh phục thế giới - Ảnh 4. — Director Lam Ngoc Nham is checking the quality of pepper. Photo: TH

Speaking of Chinese yam, everyone knows it is a precious medicine. He has creatively processed raw Chinese yam into powder and fresh Chinese yam vermicelli.

“What motivated you to persevere for many years in researching pepper and Chinese yam?” – asked one of the group. Mr. Nham smiled brightly and then humorously answered everyone: “I think each of us has a dream and my dream is to bring Vietnamese agricultural products around the world. When the world talks about high-value agriculture, they talk about Vietnam and when talking about Vietnam, they talk about Ba Ria – Vung Tau province, where Bau May pepper is grown. I believe that Bau May pepper products bring a lot of value to the community.”

Up to now, Bau May brand has been registered for domestic and international trademark protection at the Intellectual Property Office. Bau May Company and Bau May Cooperative have become the No. 1 supplier of Bau May pepper in Vietnam for demanding markets with high quality requirements such as: Japan, USA, Australia, Singapore, Canada, Dubai...

He has built clubs, cooperatives, enrichment models and shared experiences to develop Bau May varieties nationwide, creating a sustainable direction for pepper. Bau May pepper is not only grown in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province but also in Dong Nai, Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Gia Lai, Lam Dong, Binh Phuoc, Thua Thien - Hue, Quang Tri provinces...