Attached to the flower and ornamental plant craft village

(Baonghean) - Mr. Tran Van Phu (28 years old), in Kim Chi hamlet, Nghi An commune (Vinh city) has succeeded with the model of growing flowers and ornamental plants, earning hundreds of millions of dong each year. His model also creates a ripple effect on the production movement of craft villages in his hometown.

Kim Chi is a poor land, the family gardens are mainly sandy, surrounded by low-lying fields, rice and corn crops are very unstable. Since the 80s of the last century, some households in the village have introduced the profession of growing flowers and ornamental plants, but have not developed the area. After finishing high school, many young people have packed their bags to go to the southern provinces or choose the path of exporting labor to make a living and start a career. However, Mr. Tran Van Phu chose to make a living in his hometown by growing flowers and ornamental plants. His career started from the passion for the profession that his parents had been attached to, working hard to raise 8 siblings in the family to study and grow up...

Mr. Tran Van Phu (far right) takes care of the flower garden.

Mr. Phu's first steps in growing flowers and ornamental plants were full of difficulties. To realize his idea, he borrowed capital from banks, friends, and relatives. In addition, he received support from the Nghi An commune's mass organization (Vinh city). Starting from renovating the mixed garden to expand the flower growing area, every year, Mr. Phu buys fertile soil to build up low-lying land with a high sand ratio. Thus, his flower and ornamental plant growing area gradually increased. Initially, it was just a small garden of 500m2 with some traditional flower varieties such as chrysanthemums of all kinds and hibiscus. Up to now, he has built 2 flower and ornamental plant gardens with a scale of 2,500m2/garden, with chrysanthemums of all kinds, bougainvillea, laurel, peonies and hundreds of ornamental plants with unique shapes and forms. All of them are invested in carefully in terms of techniques with Mr. Phu's diligence and passion.

After a period of production, Mr. Phu has accumulated experience, which is to identify weather conditions, after 2 days of planting flowers in the ground, he must turn on the lights to stabilize the temperature for photosynthesis. As for bougainvillea and laurel trees, which are currently very advantageous in the domestic market, he uses the grafting method from mother trees that have been grown in his garden for many years. The technical stages of creating flower trees are quite methodical, from the stages of pressing the bark, making the pot, planting them in the ground to putting them in trays and pots for sale. For him, the above technical factors must be carefully prepared 3 months in advance, so that the products are sold on time for Tet, the trees have beautiful flowers, and last long. To increase the value of the products and the competitiveness of the craft village, Mr. Phu constantly grasps information about the market, proactively contacts wholesalers and retailers in Ha Tinh, Vinh City and neighboring areas. Thanks to that, during the Tet flower season, Mr. Phu always occupies a large market share, especially in the domestic market. According to his calculations, in the 3 months of selling Tet flowers, purchasing power increased significantly, with annual revenue of over 200 million VND. He also created jobs for 3 rural workers with a salary of 4-6 million VND/person/month.

With the efforts of Mr. Phu and many households producing flowers and ornamental plants, in 2009, Kim Chi flower and ornamental plant village was recognized as a Craft Village by the Provincial People's Committee. Currently, the whole craft village has 152 households, of which 133 families are engaged in the craft, attracting 185 workers attached to the flower and ornamental plant profession, of which over 60% of the main labor force are union members and young people. Mr. Pham Tuan - Secretary of Nghi An Commune Youth Union said: "Thanks to his dynamism, enthusiasm and exemplary activities, Mr. Tran Van Phu was elected to the Youth Union Executive Committee, Deputy Secretary of Nghi An Commune Youth Union. His economic development model through flower and ornamental plant profession has created a good effect in replicating the model and mobilizing young people to maintain and develop the craft village".

These days, people in the Kim Chi flower and ornamental plant craft village are entering the flower planting season, preparing to supply the Tet market. Since the beginning of the year, flower varieties have been imported from Hanoi and Hai Phong later than previous years. To proactively supply flower products to the market, this year, Mr. Phu has invested in nearly 10,000 traditional flower varieties, 3 times more than last year. Sharing his plans, Mr. Tran Van Phu excitedly said: “In the coming time, we will rent abandoned gardens or ineffective production areas of households in the commune to import many new flower varieties, meeting consumer tastes, at the same time, creating more jobs, increasing income for young people and local people…”.

Article and photos:Luong Mai