The first impression when entering Tinh Sang Duong Agricultural Cooperative is an airy space with pleasant scents emanating from many different medicinal plants. Leading guests to visit the medicinal plant garden and the processing area which is arranged in a neat, clean and tidy manner with many types of modern machinery, Director of Tinh Sang Duong Agricultural Cooperative La Van Duy (born in 1982), a Thai ethnic, shared about the journey of turning the idea that has been cherished for decades into reality. That is how to transform the crop structure towards a sustainable direction with medicinal plants, in order to create jobs and improve the lives of local people.
The dream of medicinal herbs comes from the youngest child in the family, Mr. La Van Khoi (born in 1989), currently the Head of the Oriental Medicine Department of Tay Bac General Hospital. This is a prominent figure among the young intellectuals of Western Nghe An with many volunteer activities for the community, having attended the 5th National Congress of Advanced Youth Following Uncle Ho's Teachings; receiving a Certificate of Merit from the Minister, Chairman of the Ethnic Committee for his outstanding achievements in work, study, training, and attending the Ceremony to commend outstanding students, students, and ethnic minority youth in 2020.
He is also one of the seven representatives of Nghe An youth attending the 3rd Vietnam Young Talents Award Ceremony organized by the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union.
La Van Khoi's dream of medicinal herbs has been cherished since his years of studying at the Vietnam Academy of Traditional Medicine. After graduating, La Van Khoi returned to work at the Tay Bac Nghe An General Hospital. With his understanding of medicinal herbs and oriental medicines, he always strives to find ways to develop products from medicinal herbs to help local people develop the economy, contributing to building his hometown out of poverty. With the consensus of his two older brothers, La Van Duy and La Van Cuong, in April 2022, Tinh Sang Duong Agricultural Cooperative was established on an area of about 5 hectares of land left by his parents in Hop Thanh hamlet, Yen Hop commune with the main activity of growing and processing medicinal herbs into products for the market.
“Why is the name Tinh Sang Duong?” – “If the mind is calm, the mind will be bright”, a calm soul will make the mind clear and sharp to think and make the right direction”, Director La Van Duy, who is also the eldest brother in the family, sincerely answered. He shared that due to difficult circumstances, only the youngest brother La Van Khoi of the three brothers went to university, Duy himself finished his studies and stayed in the locality, both developing the economy and working as Deputy Secretary of the Youth Union, then Secretary of the hamlet Party Cell and is currently a delegate of the People's Council of Yen Hop commune.
Born in the village, the family is attached to farming, understanding the hardships of farmers, so although it is determined that "all beginnings are difficult", but with the support of the local government and people in the area, the three brothers Duy - Cuong - Khoi are still determined to put Tinh Sang Duong Agricultural Cooperative into operation, organizing production according to the chain linkage model: From people growing medicinal plants, to manufacturing and processing into products to bring to the market. The Cooperative contracts to purchase raw materials with local people. The members of the Cooperative are the focal points for gathering and supplying raw materials for the finished product production stage. "The reason we established the Cooperative, not a business or a company, is because we determined that the key is "cooperation and association" with the local government and with the people to develop together, to revive the Cooperative model, which is currently being overlooked. This companionship and cooperation not only helps people ensure the output of raw materials, but also helps the Cooperative to be self-sufficient in standard raw materials" - Mr. La Van Duy shared.
Talking about the path of medicinal plants, the founders of Tinh Sang Duong Agricultural Cooperative said: With the desire to create a clean brand that is beneficial to health because most of the products are medicines, Tinh Sang Duong's responsibility is to transfer the planting process and provide standard seeds to people. At the same time, keep the commitment to purchase all medicinal plants grown by people. The planting process does not use chemicals or growth stimulants; prevent pests and diseases with biological products. Although facing difficulties due to poor, barren land, so productivity is not high, the Cooperative is currently actively guiding people to actively improve the land. At the same time, based on actual conditions, develop planting plans suitable for the climate and soil. For areas with poor, rocky land, grow easy-to-grow medicinal plants with strong growth such as Solanum procumbens, Tea tree... In addition, choose shade-loving plants to intercrop under the forest canopy. The cooperative also aims at a model of beekeeping for natural honey in medicinal areas, because in addition to pure honey products, some medicinal herbs also require honey as raw material.
Growing medicinal herbs is a fairly new model for the people of Yen Hop, so that people can feel secure in converting the crop structure towards sustainable cultivation with medicinal herbs meeting GACP-WHO standards. Initially, Tinh Sang Duong Agricultural Cooperative invested in all the seeds, as well as fertilizers and signed a purchase commitment contract with the people. Up to now, the people of Yen Hop have been completely confident in expanding the planting area.
Mr. Ho Duc Bac, Cau Da hamlet, Yen Hop commune said that his family has a farm with a total area of about 1.2 hectares, of which 3,000m2greenhouse, previously raised buffaloes and cows, planted grass, planted melons, zucchini, tomatoes... now he has participated in planting celery on an area of 500m22, pennywort on an area of 200m2to import to Tinh Sang Duong Agricultural Cooperative at the price of 30,000 VND/kg. “Our locality has a lot of land and abundant labor resources. For a long time, we have only focused on growing acacia but the cost is not high. Now, there is a more promising direction for growing medicinal plants, with faster capital turnover. Thanks to the Cooperative training on planting techniques and how to care for medicinal plants according to VietGAP standards, our people have gradually become familiar with the cultivation process,” Mr. Bac shared.
According to the leader of Yen Hop commune: Implementing the Resolution of the Quy Hop District Party Committee, the local government has focused on creating favorable conditions to support businesses, organizations and individuals in growing and developing medicinal plants. Initially, the model was found to be suitable and opened up directions for economic development, poverty reduction associated with tourism development. Currently, the whole commune has about 8 hectares of medicinal plants with over 50 participating households, in addition to a number of individual households. “The most encouraging thing is that in the past, there were a number of households in the area growing acacia trees under the safety corridor of the high-voltage power grid, causing many large-scale power outages. The commune petitioned higher authorities to support the clearance of trees under the power grid corridor, but for many years it has not been resolved. Now, thanks to the support package for growing medicinal plants, Tinh Sang Duong Agricultural Cooperative and the local government have actively coordinated to propagate people to convert the area of growing acacia trees that violate the power grid safety corridor to growing medicinal plants. Up to this point, 80% of households have agreed to convert. This is a good sign that not only solves the difficulty in clearing violations of the power grid safety corridor, but also opens up a direction for economic development and poverty reduction for the people,” said Mr. Nguyen Cong Giap - Secretary of the Yen Hop Commune Party Committee.
As for Tinh Sang Duong Agricultural Cooperative, to ensure product quality, build a brand and meet consumer needs, the Cooperative has invested in many modern machines and equipment such as heat dryers, cold dryers, extract cookers, powder grinders, sterilizers, film presses, and capping machines in the production process. At the same time, strict inspection is carried out, from the stage of planting and caring for raw materials, to the preliminary processing, production, and packaging to the market. Currently, the Cooperative has launched about 30 product lines, of which 3 products meet OCOP standards: cold-dried pennywort, honey, and tea bags of ca gai leo. Currently, the Cooperative is aiming to launch product lines such as: self-filtered black tea, chasteberry, green tea powder, mat cha, pennywort, celery, baby weaning powder, etc. In addition, applying digital transformation to promote the communication sector to introduce and promote to consumers. The good news is that although it has been in operation for less than a year, Tinh Sang Duong Agricultural Pesticides has opened 5 fixed agents in district centers such as Que Phong, Quy Chau, Quy Hop, Thai Hoa, Dien Chau; along with consignment agents and 40 online agents with 230 sales collaborators nationwide. The online sales network accounts for 70% of the market share" - Director La Van Duy said.
According to the founders of Tinh Sang Duong Agricultural Cooperative, fortunately, when they started their business, they received support from the people, the local government and the functional sectors. For example, the road to the production area of the cooperative was previously difficult to travel, but now the locality has surveyed and planned to clear the corridor and pour concrete to create conditions for people to travel conveniently. In addition, there are currently 2 members of the cooperative supported to borrow 100 million VND/person from the Policy Bank, 1 member of youth age is supported by Nghe An Provincial Youth Union to borrow 50 million VND from the Youth Entrepreneurship Fund. That attention, encouragement and motivation is the driving force for Tinh Sang Duong Agricultural Cooperative and the people of Yen Hop commune to continue to realize the dream of "poverty eradication", opening a new direction for livelihood from medicinal plants.
