For the past month, many groups of people of all ages have been flocking to the persimmon-growing region in Nam Anh commune, Nam Dan district. In this mountainous area, people can immerse themselves in nature, take beautiful photos, and buy persimmons as souvenirs. These activities are known as agro-tourism.
This year, many households in Nam Anh commune are not harvesting persimmons early as in previous years, but are leaving the fruit on the trees longer to serve tourists who come to visit and take photos. Naturally, those who enter the persimmon orchards to stroll and take pictures freely have to pay a certain fee to the family owning the orchard. This practice helps persimmon growers earn extra income before harvesting all the fruit, allowing them to reinvest in the next year's crop. It is understood that the local authorities are working with persimmon growers in Nam Anh commune to assess the feasibility of this activity, with plans to expand it to other beautiful persimmon orchards in the area in the near future, aiming to effectively exploit agro-tourism.
Looking at neighboring provinces, we see that Ha Giang has successfully implemented an agro-tourism model. The buckwheat flower fields attract tourists and have become a prominent brand. Besides charging for photography, farmers in Ha Giang province also harvest buckwheat seeds for food, ferment them to make wine, bake cakes, produce buckwheat oil, or use them in traditional medicine. The stems can also be used as animal feed. If the persimmon trees in Nam Anh commune and other characteristic crops in Nghe An province were also exploited in this way, it would increase income for farming households and many others involved in the service chain.
There's a Vietnamese proverb that says, "First, there's the scholar; second, there's the farmer." Farming, simply put, refers to the labor and production of agricultural products: plowing, sowing, tending, harvesting, and processing. In the modern era, these processes also reflect the farmers' level of expertise in changing farming methods, actively applying science and technology in planting, tending, harvesting, and processing products to achieve higher value. "Determined to cultivate agriculture" combined with tourism development will truly bring double value.
Article by: Nguyen Nguyen
Illustrative image: Archival material
