Hai Phong Renting abandoned rice fields, Ms. Tran Thi Quynh Van spent more than 4 billion VND to build a farm supplying organic agricultural products, with a revenue of more than 2 billion VND per year.
The farm named Love in fram - Happy farm is over 5 hectares wide, located near Mac Dang Doanh street, Duong Kinh district, and was built by Van, 32 years old, since 2019. Born and raised in Thai Binh, she went to Hanoi to study accounting at the University of Commerce, and after graduating, Van returned to Hai Phong to work.
Thanks to her diligence and agility, Van soon became a sales manager for a business, earning tens of millions of dong per month. The job was stable, but she did not like the boring job, so Van wanted to find new motivation in life. "After a few times of contact with people who got sick from eating dirty food, I came up with the idea of switching to clean agricultural products," Van said.
Quynh Van and workers harvest chrysanthemums. Photo: Le Tan
In 2018, Van quit her job to open a store selling vegetables and fruits imported from clean vegetable gardens in Hoa Binh, Moc Chau and Hanoi. The business was favorable because the demand for clean, healthy food was increasingly chosen by customers. After a year, Van decided to make her own products to control the quality well, so she went looking for land to build a farm.
Duong Kinh area was targeted by Van because it still had a lot of fertile land, was close to the center so it was easy to transport products, and convenient for customers to visit and experience later. Van made a project and then went to each household to ask to rent land in Phuong Lung field.
Most of the fields here are abandoned due to inefficient farming and lack of labor. However, many households would rather leave their fields empty than rent them out. Van had to meet with nearly 200 households to convince them to rent their land at a price of one million dong per sao per year.
Having collected 5 hectares of land in Phuong Lung field, Quynh Van invested all her capital in improving the land, buying seedlings, and hiring people to build the Love in fram farm - Happy farm . "I want the products from my farm to bring happiness and joy to everyone, so I named it that," Van explained.
Van grows all kinds of vegetables and fruits depending on the season. For example, this winter-spring crop, Van is growing lettuce, chrysanthemums for tea, tomatoes, strawberries, and mushrooms. The plants do not use chemical fertilizers or pesticides, but instead use composted cow manure, vermicompost, fish protein, and other environmentally friendly things. Therefore, the care is more difficult and requires more labor than the usual method.
But according to Van, the biggest difficulty is the harsh weather. In 2020, the farm lost a hectare of melons that were about to be harvested due to prolonged heavy rain, causing a loss of 300 million VND. "After that, I decided to invest in more greenhouses and improve techniques. With no more capital, I borrowed money from everyone I knew and then asked my parents to borrow money from the bank. If I didn't succeed, I would have to work for hire for the rest of my life and probably wouldn't be able to pay off the debt," Van said.
Thanks to her boldness in building greenhouses for farming and applying Israeli-style science and technology, Van's farm has stabilized after 3 years of establishment. Photo: Le Tan
With the help of some colleagues who had studied agriculture in Israel, the farm gradually stabilized. There was a time when the farm had excess inventory due to price competition with conventionally grown products. Van and her colleagues opened a factory to process tomato sauce and pickles (eggplant, chili, cucumber). In addition, some fruit trees such as strawberries, palermo peppers, guava pears, and papaya were also planted to diversify the products.
To build trust with customers, Happy Farm is always open to welcome everyone to visit and examine the farming process. Every weekend and holiday, the farm becomes a place for many schools in Hai Phong to learn about farming. Currently, the farm provides 10 tons of vegetables and fruits to 1,000 customers each month, with an estimated revenue of 2 billion VND in 2023.
"After deducting about 100 million VND in monthly expenses for labor for 10 regular workers and 20 seasonal workers, electricity, water, livestock, and land rental, the farm has initially made a profit and partially recovered the capital," Van shared.
Happy farm of female accounting graduate. Video: Le Tan
Not wanting to fall behind the trend of digital business, Van has built many sales channels on social networks and is building a multimedia app for the farm. "In addition to allowing customers to order products, the app also integrates a camera system to monitor the production process on the farm. Customers can control the food they eat every day," Van explained.
The leader of Hai Phong City Youth Union said that due to her great contributions to the local socio-economic development, Quynh Van received the Luong Dinh Cua award in 2023 and many certificates of merit from all levels.
Le Tan
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