Millionaire farmers in That Lat stream

6.2 hectare hill garden farm of 63 year old farmer

Led by a Xa Luong commune official as a "navigator", we crossed the winding, bumpy, muddy, slippery road to reach the farm of 63-year-old farmer Duong Van Dung in That Lat stream of Na Be 2 village.

The road to That Lat stream. Photo: KL

Without an appointment, when we visited, Mr. Dung was still engrossed in his lawn mower on the hill above. Party Secretary of Xa Luong Commune Nguyen Dinh Hien had to call several times before Mr. Dung heard and put down the phone to run down to welcome the guests. The man with a sun-tanned face smiled kindly: "It must have been a hard journey for you, but this is easy. When my wife and I first came here to reclaim the land 20 years ago, the road was still worn out, just wide enough for a motorbike wheel." Then, with quick steps, Mr. Dung led the guests on a tour of the farm.

Old farmer Duong Van Dung shares the process of forming a 6.2-hectare farm. Photo: Dang Cuong

Originally an Air Force soldier, originally from Hung Nguyen, after leaving the army in 1990, Mr. Dung went to Tuong Duong to start a business, got married, and had children. Life was hard, so in 2002, he and his wife decided to go to That Lat stream to reclaim and open up land. At first, with little capital, the couple went down to Anh Son to buy chickens weighing about 2-3 taels to raise, about a few hundred each time. Hearing from his brother in Vinh that a friend in Hung Hoa commune raised tens of thousands of chickens, Mr. Dung decided to pack up and go "studying the master", asking to stay in someone's house for a week to learn how to raise chickens.

He also researched and made medicine for chickens. After the economy became a little more stable, Mr. Dung and his wife switched to raising goats and cows on a large scale, then learned from experience online and borrowed money from the bank to enter the fruit growing industry.

The land does not fail the people, currently Mr. Dung's farm has 27 cows, 400 chickens, 200 orange trees, 500 custard apple trees. In addition, there are 300 mahogany trees ready for harvest and other fruit trees such as jackfruit, grapefruit, mango, each with dozens of trees or more. With the motto "take short-term to support long-term", in parallel with raising livestock and growing fruit trees, Mr. Dung and his wife grow many types of vegetables (each season has its own food) around the farm.

We usually wake up at 4am to cut vegetables to sell to people in the commune. The money from selling vegetables alone gives us a steady average income of 500,000-700,000 VND/day. The total income from the farm, minus expenses, is about 300-400 million VND/year. The products from the farm now have a brand, traders come to pick them up or call me to deliver them...", Mr. Dung shared.

Editor-in-Chief of Nghe An Newspaper Ngo Duc Kien talks with old farmer Duong Van Dung about output for agricultural products. Photo: KL

How do you apply scientific and technological knowledge to plants, where do you get fruit tree varieties? Hearing our question, Mr. Dung laughed out loud: “This is the 4.0 era, if you don’t know or understand something, just type it on Google. I looked it up online and then connected with the Agricultural Institute to ask for advice, specific instructions, and to deliver suitable plant varieties to your place, then I transferred the money. But if you do a farm, you have to stick to the land and the plants, you can’t leave. My wife and I work tirelessly, in addition to fruit trees, vegetables, and livestock, we also grow more than 4 tons of upland rice a year…”.

Mr. Duong Van Dung's joy in work. Photo: Dang Cuong

A stable income helps Mr. Dung and his wife raise 3 children, the 2 older daughters have graduated from university and are working, the youngest daughter is studying in grade 11 at the provincial boarding high school for ethnic minorities. From having nothing, now being considered as having “food and savings”, Mr. Duong Van Dung and his wife still work hard.

“My wife and I are currently borrowing 100 million from the Policy Bank to expand the fruit growing area. We don’t have any labor, so we just do it little by little. “With human power, rocks and stones can turn into rice.” That Lat stream has diverse and rich land potential, suitable for developing agriculture, forestry and livestock, so we shouldn’t let it go to waste…”, old farmer Duong Van Dung generously shared as he saw us off the farm.

Install automatic irrigation system, attach camera on hill to take care of fruit trees

Not far from Mr. Dung's farm, going deeper inside is the fruit farm of more than 4 hectares of Mr. Tran Cong Chinh and Mrs. Vu Thi Tot's family. Right from the entrance to the farm are rows of Dien grapefruit laden with fruit, promising a bumper crop. But the most impressive thing is the modern automatic drip irrigation system installed on each tree, which can adjust the irrigation capacity, and the camera system covering a large area.

Entrance to Mr. Tran Cong Chinh's farm. Photo: KL

"The automatic irrigation system worth more than 100 million VND was supported by the district and commune, and the camera system was installed by the family itself, both to prevent theft and to help detect unusual signs happening to the crops," Mr. Chinh, 53 years old, with the strong and active appearance of a mountain worker, happily said.

Mr. Tran Cong Chinh shares his experience in growing oranges and grapefruits on hilly land. Photo: Dang Cuong

According to the owner of the largest fruit farm in That Lat stream, his family started building the model 6 years ago, starting with planting acacia and xoan. Later, seeing that acacia and xoan did not work and damaged the land, his family decided to switch to growing fruit trees, which are both long-term and green the barren hills.

The capital was collected from the three children who went to work abroad. The first two years had to hire workers, but after that the family did it themselves, expanding to more than 4 hectares including 1,000 Vinh orange trees, 1,000 grapefruit trees of all kinds including Dien grapefruit, green-skin, Tien Vua grapefruit, varieties from the northern provinces. Last year, the family harvested about 10 tons of grapefruit, more than 6 tons of oranges. Dien grapefruit alone retailed for 10 thousand VND/fruit, wholesaled for 7 thousand VND/fruit, the total income from oranges and grapefruit last year was about 200 million VND.

Mr. Chinh takes care of grapefruit trees that have produced fruit. Photo: KL-DC

In addition to regularly going online to learn and apply science and technology, Mr. Chinh also took the trouble to visit gardens to consult and learn from their experiences to follow. He and his wife also ordered online molds of the words Phuc, Loc, Tho... to beautify the fruit. Promoting and introducing products on social networks also helps to make consumption easier, just take the car out and someone will take it.

Seeing that the guests seemed surprised and curious about the fruit shaping molds, Mrs. Vu Thi Tot - Mr. Chinh's wife looked out from behind a temporary hut set up in the middle of the garden and said, "Go online and order and they will ship it to your door, 50 thousand VND/mold, very convenient, we have just tested it...".

Mr. Tran Cong Chinh and his wife ordered molds online to beautify the fruit. Photo: KL

In addition to grapefruit and oranges, Mr. Chinh and his wife's farm also grows mango, jackfruit, pineapple, guava, apple, lychee, coconut, lemon, and vegetables, raises 40 pigs, 70-80 chickens, and a few beef cattle... Bringing in a total income of several hundred million VND/year. Despite being so busy, according to the Xa Luong commune officials who accompanied us, "Mr. Chinh is very diligent and hard-working, he stays on the farm all day, but whenever he has free time, he goes to build...".

Hearing that, the millionaire farmer smiled broadly, “That’s right! I just came back from construction with my son-in-law today and then went to the farm. I want to do anything that makes honest money. To me, working is a joy…”

Mr. Chinhplans to expand the area of ​​fruit trees in the future. Photo: Dang Cuong

When asked about his upcoming plans, Mr. Chinh said that due to the expansion of the fruit tree area, the automatic drip irrigation system has not yet covered all of the trees, there are still about 200 more trees, so in the near future, his family plans to invest in installing an automatic drip irrigation system for all the trees to ensure productivity and quality while also partly freeing up labor...

Sharing about the economic models that have been gradually making their mark in Khe That Lat, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Hien - Secretary of the Party Committee of Xa Luong commune said: These are all models of the commune's government's mass mobilization. In addition to supporting seeds, investing in upgrading roads and electricity lines, the commune also connects and supports families to borrow capital sources whenever they need to invest and expand. Currently, some households in the commune have started to learn from Mr. Dung and Mr. Chinh to go to Khe That Lat to plant xoan, meters and some short-term forestry trees, develop the economy and get rich on their homeland.