Having just returned from the capital Hanoi during his trip to attend the "Ceremony to honor 100 outstanding Vietnamese farmers and 63 typical agricultural cooperatives nationwide in 2023", farmer Dinh Xuan Dao (born in 1970), Ham Duc commune, Ham Thuan Bac met us at his family's large dragon fruit farm right at the foot of Ta Zon mountain to share his joy after many years of effort...
Central level excellent farmer for 5 consecutive years
Mr. Dao and his wife warmly welcomed the guests with bright smiles. Before us was a large dragon fruit farm, with over 34 hectares, nestled at the foot of the mountain. Mr. Dao was honored as an individual representing farmers in Binh Thuan province to be honored as one of the 100 outstanding Vietnamese farmers in 2023 by the Vietnam Farmers' Association in mid-October 2023.
Mr. Dao's family is currently developing a model of production, business, and trading of dragon fruit. From 2018 to present, the farm's dragon fruit production area is 22 hectares, including white-fleshed, red-fleshed, and purple-pink dragon fruit varieties. In addition, the dragon fruit purchasing facility has been expanded and upgraded, including a packaging workshop, cold storage, and garage with an area of 5,000 m2. Notably, the family has now built a sprinkler and drip irrigation system for 22 hectares of dragon fruit, worth over 2 billion VND.
During the field trip to this farm, due to the large terrain, Mr. Dao offered to take us to visit the VietGAP dragon fruit garden by car, so that we could observe the entire farm space. Surrounding the checkerboard roads are vast green dragon fruits that are being cared for and harvested. Indeed, if we had not actually met and witnessed the scale of the farm, we would not have thought of the large investment of this farmer in growing dragon fruit. Because in the current unstable dragon fruit market trend, with fluctuating prices, many other households in the province have uprooted, not invested or converted to other crops. As for Mr. Dao, from 2017 to now, the income from growing and exporting dragon fruit has brought his family a profit of 1.2 - 1.8 billion VND per year. In addition, the Lieu Dao dragon fruit production cooperative has created jobs for nearly 200 local workers with an income of 5 - 7 million VND/person/month. Thanks to its efforts and continuous production scale for 5 years (2017 - 2021), it has achieved the title of excellent farmers in production and business at the central level.
Mr. Dinh Xuan Dao's farm.
The land does not disappoint people.
These achievements, perhaps because the land does not disappoint the people, does not disappoint the passion and dedication of the farm owner for dragon fruit. The harsh sunlight at the beginning of the dry season is softened by the green color of the straight dragon fruit, which is being watered by an automatic misting system. In different areas, the farm owner has built ponds to store irrigation water, taken from wells, to raise fish and grow vegetables to serve the needs of dozens of workers here.
Surrounding the warehouse area are rows of coconut trees laden with fruit, papaya trees ripening red on the trees, which when picked by the owner himself to serve guests, everyone can feel the fresh, sweet taste typical of the sunny land. Right next to the dragon fruit garden near the warehouse, some workers are weeding by hand, replacing the plots of land planted between the dragon fruit trees with a myriad of colorful portulaca flowers.
The farm owner said that growing portulaca and many other flowers on the farm is both a hobby, creating a beautiful space, and limiting weed growth, attracting natural enemies of dragon fruit. He and his wife also plan to develop more models in the near future to form experiential agricultural tourism. In addition, some dragon fruit growers in the area are also contracted by the Lieu Dao Dragon Fruit Production Cooperative to purchase their products, package them, and mainly export them to Asian markets.
However, Mr. Dao also said that the production process encountered many difficulties because of high input costs. On the other hand, the frequent occurrence of plant diseases has greatly affected production and business, while the output products do not have a stable market.
Despite the difficulties, for farmer Dinh Xuan Dao, in addition to production and business, every year his family supports and helps poor workers working on the farm with about 15 people. His way of helping is to lend capital for production without interest, each household from 10 million VND or more and provide guidance on business experience. Along with that, Mr. Dao also participates in other social activities in the locality, actively participating in campaigns such as the movement to help children go to school, giving scholarships, supporting the farmer support fund... with a total value of hundreds of millions of VND.
According to Mr. Nguyen Phu Hoang - Chairman of the Provincial Farmers' Association, this is one of the typical production models that needs to be replicated in the coming time for dragon fruit producers in the province. In the future, the Provincial Farmers' Association and related units will advise and support dragon fruit growers to improve GAP quality to meet export demand. Thereby, farmers will have higher profits, helping dragon fruit growers solve product output.
As for us, the meeting, although quite rushed, was enough to leave a good impression of the good farmer Dinh Xuan Dao, and the large-scale, effective production of dragon fruit on Binh Thuan land.
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