Electrical engineer with passion for ecological agriculture

HAI PHONG After retiring, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dieu invested all his savings in ecological agriculture, organic farming in Hung Thang commune, Tien Lang district.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dieu's jackfruit garden is laden with fruit and cultivated using organic processes. Photo: Dinh Muoi.

The Chu Khe village rice fields, Hung Thang commune, Tien Lang district (Hai Phong city) used to have many deep and low-lying areas. Due to low rice productivity, people switched to digging ponds to raise shrimp. However, due to low investment, limited farming techniques and experience, economic efficiency was not high, people continued to leave the fields fallow, and weeds grew wild.

He used to be an engineer working at Hai Phong Electricity Company and had retired, but due to his affinity with agriculture, when he saw this reality, Mr. Dieu researched and determined to spend his savings to return to his hometown to accumulate land for an ecological agricultural model.

At first, Mr. Dieu's family objected because of his old age, partly because he was afraid of hardship, and partly because he was worried about losing everything by spending tens of billions of dong that he had saved for many years on an abandoned land. However, after a thorough explanation and sharing of his passion and desire to contribute to his homeland, his family approved of his wish.

“Previously, I only returned to my hometown on weekends or when I had important work. Later, realizing that the trend of developing eco-tourism in localities is a goal in building new rural areas, I returned here to invest and stay,” Mr. Dieu shared.

More than 1,000 dragon fruit trees are planted along the pond bank, all of which are grown using organic processes. Photo: Dinh Muoi.

In Hung Thang commune, after accumulating 5 hectares of land rented from local people and public land managed by the commune, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dieu started to renovate, dig ponds, and build land into a fairly systematic farming and planting area, with all kinds of plants planted on the shore and shrimp, crabs, and fish in the pond.

Being a deep-lying area that had been abandoned for a long time, the process of land reclamation encountered many difficulties, obstacles, and challenges and took nearly 2 years to complete. In order to be able to cultivate, Mr. Dieu bought tens of thousands of cubic meters of land to serve as leveling and thousands of cubic meters of topsoil to cover for planting trees.

“At the time we invested, there were no roads in this area, so the land reclamation for planting trees had to be done manually, using carts, wheelbarrows, trailers or homemade vehicles. As for leveling, we used excavators, I rented two, even at peak times, three machines working continuously for a year and a half to get the shape it has today,” Mr. Dieu recalled.

After completing the land improvement stage, when it came to the tree planting stage, Mr. Dieu traveled everywhere to research and learn the advantages of the models that others had implemented to accumulate more knowledge. Applying it in practice, Mr. Dieu based on the field to divide the tree planting area into separate areas, each type of tree, multi-layered and multi-canopy, above are ancient trees, below are fruit gardens such as oranges, guavas, apples, grapefruits, mangoes, longans, coconuts, etc.

In addition to the garden of more than 3 hectares, Mr. Dieu currently has 11 aquaculture ponds. Photo: Dinh Muoi.

Along with that, around the garden, along the paths are red and yellow peonies and green leafy trees, the fence is more than 1,000 dragon fruit trees to create a cool space. And in the pond, Mr. Dieu divided it into 11 large and small ponds and raised shrimp, fish and crabs together. Shrimp and crabs are raised in an extensive form, and fish include barracuda, mullet and tilapia.

“I went everywhere to learn and spent tens of billions of dong to invest in the model, of which the trees alone cost more than 10 billion dong. I learned and researched the planning of the tree planting and aquaculture areas myself, but everyone praised it,” Mr. Dieu shared.

When visiting Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dieu's ecological agricultural model, what impressed us was that the process of cultivating and fertilizing crops was carried out according to organic processes and without the use of pesticides.

Because no herbicides are used, the farm must constantly prune and weed. In addition to organic fertilizers on the market, soft-stemmed plants are also utilized by cutting them into small pieces, putting them in a compost tank, and sprinkling them with microorganisms to make organic fertilizer for the plants.

Coconut trees and many valuable fruit trees are being well cared for. Photo: Dinh Muoi.

“We practice ecological agriculture so we cannot use chemicals in the farming process. If we use pesticides or other chemicals, it will affect other animals and aquatic products. In general, it is 100% organic, the products are very safe and clean,” Mr. Dieu affirmed.

Mr. Dieu added that doing ecological agriculture requires practicality, close attention to work, a lot of capital, continuous creativity and differentiation. Currently, the model is not profitable, but ecological agriculture is a trend, favored by many people, so it has a lot of potential. Therefore, this model not only solves the problem of abandoned land but also creates economic value, creates jobs for people and beautifies the homeland.

According to the leader of Hung Thang Commune People's Committee, Mr. Dieu's ecological agricultural model has just been deployed locally on the basis of implementing the policy of accumulating abandoned land and leasing part of the commune's public land.

Since the model was established, thanks to systematic investment, the Chu Khe village fields have become more beautiful, with convenient transportation, promoting investment in production and helping people transport agricultural products better. However, this area is planned as an industrial cluster, so it cannot be expanded, cannot complete the procedures according to regulations and can only be done within a certain period of time.

Source: https://nongsanviet.nongnghiep.vn/ky-su-dien-dam-me-nong-nghiep-sinh-thai-d388090.html