Dare to think, dare to do, Mr. Nguyen Hung Thai boldly invested and successfully reaped profits from the comprehensive farm model in Khe Tho area (Dong Loc town, Can Loc, Ha Tinh).
While leading us to visit the more than 5-hectare comprehensive farm with pomelo, orange, guava, persimmon gardens... laden with fruit at Khe Tho Residential Area, Mr. Thai proudly said: "A few decades ago, this was a remote area, bare hills. With the belief that "with human strength, rocks and stones can turn into rice", I chose this land to start a business, determined to turn the potential of the land into material wealth".
Mr. Thai was born in 1974 in Yen Loc commune (Can Loc). After graduating from high school, he "packed up" and went to Ninh Binh province to study construction vocational school. After graduating, he started working but his job was still unstable, so in 2000, when the State had a program to encourage the construction of a new economic zone in Khe Tho, Mr. Thai decided to start a business with his own labor.
The fruit-laden orchards inside Mr. Thai's 5-hectare farm are the result of hard work and determination to overcome difficulties and become rich.
True to his word, after receiving the land, Mr. Thai started to renovate it. He borrowed money from the bank and friends to invest in growing fruit trees and raising livestock. At first, because the land was newly renovated, the techniques for growing trees and raising livestock were still traditional, so the efficiency was not high.
Mr. Thai has drawn important experience in agricultural production is to apply scientific and technical advances. From there, in addition to learning from books and newspapers, he also directly learned from the experiences of fruit orchards with high economic efficiency in localities inside and outside the province, participating in training sessions organized by the Commune Farmers' Association. From the knowledge learned combined with the experiences accumulated in his home garden, up to now, his more than 5-hectare comprehensive farm has many types of fruit trees with good income.
Orange and lemon garden with more than 600 trees inside Mr. Thai's family farm.
Mr. Thai's family farm currently has more than 600 orange and lemon trees, of which 300 trees have been harvested (an average of more than 15 tons of fruit per year). With an average selling price of 30,000 VND/kg, the orange and lemon garden generates an annual revenue of more than 450 million VND. After deducting expenses, his family earns about 300 million VND/year.
In addition to oranges and lemons, Mr. Thai also has more than 100 crispy orange trees that have yielded their fourth harvest. This is a delicious, sweet orange variety that is popular with consumers. Each year, Mr. Thai's family harvests 3-4 tons of crispy oranges, earning about 150 million VND after deducting expenses. In addition, the farm also has 250 grapefruit trees, of which 100 trees have yielded 3-4 tons/year.
In 2021, Mr. Thai's orange garden was selected by the Provincial Agricultural Extension Center to produce according to VietGAP standards. The family has strictly followed the technical process, care methods, irrigation systems, and synchronized investment in organic fertilizers, so the oranges have high yields and ensure output quality.
Between the orange and grapefruit gardens, Mr. Thai planted 200 Taiwanese guava trees. He applied grafting to make the guava fruit all year round, always having products to supply the market. The guava is guaranteed to be crispy and sweet, and is chosen as a supplier by many clean fruit stores in Ha Tinh City.
Seemingly not wasting any land, Mr. Thai also planted more than 100 square rose bushes on the farm. He said that roses are perennial plants, do not require much time and money to care for but have high productivity, just need to weed around the base and fertilize for the plants to grow well.
Under the fruit trees, Mr. Thai raises 22 bee colonies to help pollinate the trees naturally and ensure a source of bees.
Besides fruit trees, he also raises 22 bee colonies and 18 cows.
He said that beekeeping is cost-free because the bees use natural pollen in the garden, so the quality of the honey is delicious, guaranteed, and chosen by consumers. Each year he collects more than 200 liters of honey, but it always sells out early. To have a source of fertilizer for the orchard, and at the same time take advantage of the natural grass area, Mr. Thai also raises 18 cows, including 8 breeding cows and 1 breeding bull.
Thanks to strict application of techniques for caring for each type of plant, especially protecting the fruit and covering it with plastic to prevent harmful insects, the harvested fruit is both beautiful in appearance and delicious in quality.
To meet the increasing demands of consumers, Mr. Thai has switched to growing and caring for fruit trees in the garden in an organic way. He strictly applies care techniques to each type of tree, especially protecting the fruit, wrapping it in plastic to prevent insects from biting, stinging, and laying eggs, ensuring that the harvested fruit is both beautiful in appearance and delicious in quality.
Implementing the organic farming model, Mr. Thai does not use chemical fertilizers but instead uses agricultural by-products such as straw to cover the tree roots, which both retains moisture and self-decomposes to create humus for the soil. He also composts manure with microorganisms, buys soybeans, fish... to compost as fertilizer for plants, uses biological pesticides, and does not use herbicides to ensure the production of oranges, grapefruits, guavas, persimmons... that meet food safety and hygiene requirements.
With many years of gardening experience, Mr. Thai also regularly shares with households who come to learn and visit. With his efforts and overcoming difficulties, for many years he has been awarded certificates of merit by authorities at all levels in the movement of farmers competing for good production and business.
Mr. Nguyen Hung Thai's integrated farm is a typical economic model of the locality. Overcoming difficulties, the model has demonstrated the new way of thinking and working of farmers to get rich on their homeland. The local government is researching and proposing support policies from all levels and sectors to replicate the model, increase people's income, and contribute to local economic development.
Mr. Phan Duc Hoa
Vice Chairman of Dong Loc Town People's Committee
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