Enhancing business-farmer linkage in high-quality rice production and processing

(Baonghean) - From his special love for rice, Mr. Phan Van Hoa - Director of Vinh Hoa Science and Technology Company Limited (Yen Thanh) has successfully researched many rare rice varieties to produce high quality herbal rice products...

From high quality rice varieties...

He took us to visit the herbal rice field right next to the company at km11 of National Highway 7A, Vinh Thanh Commune - Yen Thanh. Mr. Hoa said: After 10 years in the army, in 1984 he returned to his hometown, got married, and worked on the fields. Seeing the farmers working hard all year round, but "hybrid rice varieties were expensive and they were not proactive in sowing seeds. One year, the villagers bought bad seeds and suffered crop failures." He cherished the idea of ​​researching high-quality rice varieties for the people.

Mr. Phan Van Hoa - Director of Vinh Hoa Science and Technology Company Limited introduces AC5 rice product.

In 2001, with the help of a consultant, he completed the procedures and established Vinh Hoa Company Limited. He presented the idea of ​​finding high-quality purebred rice varieties to the Department of Agriculture, and everyone supported it. The provincial leaders sent a dispatch to the plant variety institutes asking for help. “Luckily, I met and was taken to the Food Crops Institute by Professor Vu Tuyen Hoang - President of the Vietnam Science Association. This institute gave me 5 varieties for testing. Then the professor took me to the Institute of Electromechanics to collect fertilizer samples to apply microbial fertilizers to rice production,” Mr. Hoa recalled.

Returning to his hometown, Mr. Hoa immediately brought the rice variety to the Hoi Sac field to plant. Of those 5 varieties, he chose the AC5 variety. In the 2005 crop season, the Hoa Thanh commune government encouraged people to plant the AC5 rice variety, and the results were unexpectedly successful, the rice yielded very high yields. His AC5 rice variety gradually spread to communes in Yen Thanh district and Do Luong, Hung Nguyen districts, Vinh city... According to Mr. Hoa, growing AC5 variety is cheap, has high yield (average 7.2 tons/ha/crop), and sells for 15 times higher than hybrid rice varieties. AC5 rice variety grown according to the correct technical process produces delicious, nutritious rice.

To achieve that result, Mr. Hoa successfully applied microbial fertilizers to production. This type of fertilizer contains microbial enzymes that are resistant to rice diseases, like vaccines for humans, so the AC5 variety is considered "clean rice", which is very popular with consumers. He built the brand "Nghe An Rice" with durable, vacuum-sealed packaging, strictly inspected for quality by the Plant Protection Department and the Institute of Nutrition, with pesticide residues and lead below the permitted level.

Recently, at the Techmart-ASEAN+3 Fair, Vinh Hoa Company Limited bought the copyright of AC5 rice variety from the Institute of Food Crops and Food Plants. Mr. Hoa said: The value of the copyright is 3 billion VND, but he only has 500 million VND. The Institute agreed to sell it to him because he had succeeded with this rice variety. In addition to Nghe An, AC5 rice variety has been welcomed by many districts of Ha Tinh and Thanh Hoa. In particular, high-quality AC5 rice is available nationwide.

To serve the research of rice varieties, Mr. Hoa studied at Hanoi University of Agriculture and went to research institutes to learn from famous professors and doctors. After finishing the course, he returned to his hometown to start researching and crossbreeding the new rice variety VH1 (named by him). With his new crossbreeding method, the VH1 variety has a beautiful appearance, pink rice grains, high yield, and can withstand harsh climates. The outstanding characteristics of the VH1 rice variety are that the rice is much more delicious than other rice varieties; the content of micronutrients, trace elements and vitamins A, B (B1, B2, B6), lipids, fiber, omega anti-cancer, anti-osteoporosis is high; when eaten, it makes you forget the feeling of hunger, very beneficial for overweight people. The rice is resistant to leaf blight, blast, leaf roller, brown spot, brown stripe; the plant is hard, the leaves are strong; tillering is strong; can be grown in 2 crops a year (winter-spring and summer-autumn); yield from 5.5 - 10 tons/ha. The VH1 rice variety has been approved for protection by the UPOV. The National Center for Testing and Testing of Seeds, Plants and Fertilizers has recognized VH1 as a super-original, rare, high-quality rice variety. Currently, the VH1 rice variety of Vinh Hoa Company Limited has been copyrighted.

In particular, to promote the rice brand he bred himself, Mr. Hoa successfully "drew" a model of the map of Vietnam right on the field with the 4-color herbal rice variety. Mr. Hoa said: When successfully producing the purple herbal rice variety VH1, I came up with the idea of ​​how to create a highlight on the field, both creating material products and creating spiritual products for farmers, especially when Vietnam is integrating, it is necessary to further improve the quality of agricultural products. Therefore, I continued to research, create colors, separate colors and decided to use my rice varieties to "draw" the map of the Fatherland on the field. This is also a way to promote herbal rice products, opening up a direction for eco-tourism in the fields, a potential that needs to be exploited in the future.

...To the Workshop on Business - Farmer Linkage

In recent years, Vinh Hoa Science and Technology Company Limited has researched and produced new rice varieties and has cooperated with farmers in many localities to organize the production and trading of high-quality rice, achieving many good results. At the same time, there have been and are arising problems that require efforts from many sides to solve.

Booth introducing rice products of Vinh Hoa Science and Technology Company Limited.

In order to re-evaluate the effectiveness, draw lessons to improve and replicate the linkage models, on May 27, 2016, Vinh Hoa Science and Technology Co., Ltd. organized a workshop on “Business-farmer linkage model in production, processing and trading of high-quality rice” with the main content: Visiting the company and the design of the map of Vietnam on the fields, “drawn” with Vinh Hoa herbal rice varieties selected and created by Vinh Hoa Science and Technology Co., Ltd. The company is planning to turn this model into an agricultural tourism attraction in the countryside; Visiting the model of linking enterprises - farmers in producing high-quality rice in the spring crop of 2016 in Dien Nguyen commune, Dien Chau, Nghe An with a scale of 80 hectares linked with Dien Nguyen Agricultural Service Cooperative to produce high-quality AC5 rice associated with product consumption between enterprises and farmers (this model has been maintained for 4 consecutive years) and the model linked with Mr. Ngo Sy Hanh's family to produce 0.5 hectares of Vinh Hoa herbal rice (using modern technology) to purchase and process Vinh Hoa herbal rice tea.

In particular, this workshop not only attracted the attention of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, provinces, cities, agricultural and fishery extension centers of 14 provinces and cities across the country; leaders of Nghe An province; but also had the participation of the Chairman of the Korean Livestock Association and General Directors of Korean livestock export enterprises who will sign investment contracts for 14 processing lines for rice, straw and bran for export.

T.Thuy - L.Mai