Thai ethnic girl elevates red turmeric

Ms. Vi Thi Anh, Tho Binh commune (Trieu Son) is honored to be one of 36 young people to receive the 19th Luong Dinh Cua award in 2024.

In 2018, Ms. Anh started growing red turmeric on barren hillsides, where many people thought it would be difficult to bring economic efficiency. Indeed, the beginning of her entrepreneurial journey was not easy, due to lack of experience, suboptimal farming techniques, and pests affecting the productivity and yield of turmeric. Not discouraged by difficulties, she continued to borrow 1 hectare of hilly land from her parents and rented another 1 hectare of land from people in the commune to expand the area of ​​turmeric cultivation. When buying seeds for planting, the seed supplier committed to purchasing all of her family's fresh turmeric. However, they "abandoned their children", causing her family to have difficulty in selling their products.

"I was very worried when I harvested fresh turmeric but could not sell it. I had worked hard all year long and did not know who to sell it to, so I decided to invest in machinery to process fresh turmeric into refined products that were well received by everyone," Ms. Anh confided.

Red turmeric is usually harvested in December every year.

Realizing the great potential for development, in 2023, she decided to establish the Anh Mai Medicinal Agricultural Products Cooperative. This is the first step in expanding the scale of production and deep processing of red turmeric into products with higher economic value, such as: Turmeric starch, dried turmeric slices, whole dried turmeric, turmeric powder... These products are quickly accepted by the market, not only consumed domestically, but also exported to demanding markets such as India, Korea, and Japan.

Ms. Vi Thi Anh performs the preliminary processing of red sticky rice turmeric.

After washing the fresh turmeric, put it in a blender and squeeze to get turmeric juice.

Over time, the turmeric growing area of ​​Anh Mai Medicinal Agricultural Products Cooperative has been continuously expanded. With about 3 hectares planted in 2018, the turmeric area of ​​the Cooperative has now expanded to more than 8 hectares. Along with the development in area, the revenue of the Cooperative has also grown strongly with an impressive figure of more than 260 million VND/ha/year. Thanks to her creativity and enthusiasm, Ms. Anh's start-up model has gone beyond the scale of household production. The Anh Mai Medicinal Agricultural Products Cooperative model currently operating not only helps increase the economic value of red glutinous turmeric, but also creates jobs for 15 local workers. Moreover, she also supports and guides people in the commune to participate in the model, contributing to changing production thinking towards modernity and sustainability.

Products made from red turmeric of Anh Mai Medicinal Agricultural Products Cooperative participate in the Green Startup Ideas/Project Competition - Sustainable Development in 2024.

In addition to focusing on production, Ms. Anh also actively participates in volunteer activities and environmental protection. In particular, aiming at sustainable agricultural development, she has implemented a project to reuse agricultural waste to produce organic fertilizer. She also always strives to preserve the traditional cultural identity of the Thai ethnic group, motivating local young people to start businesses based on the strengths of their homeland.

With outstanding achievements in agricultural production and business, Ms. Vi Thi Anh was honored to be one of 36 young people to receive the 19th Luong Dinh Cua Award in 2024 - one of the noble awards of the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union awarded to young people with outstanding achievements in the fields of production, business, transfer of technical advances, agricultural technology, environmental protection and new rural construction. This is not only her pride, but also a motivation for young people in rural areas to boldly start a business and get rich on their homeland.

Sharing about her journey, Ms. Anh said: “Starting a business is both a way to bring a stable source of income for myself and an opportunity for me to contribute to my homeland. As long as I dare to think, dare to do, persevere with my passion, and am not afraid of challenges, every difficulty is an opportunity for me to grow up.”

The entrepreneurial example of Ms. Vi Thi Anh not only contributes to increasing the value of red turmeric on the barren hills of Tho Binh commune, but also opens up a new entrepreneurial direction for many local youth.

Phuong Anh

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Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/co-gai-dan-toc-thai-nang-tam-cay-nghe-nep-do-243412.htm