Poor farmers' lives transformed thanks to jackfruit wood.

In Ha Tinh , while trading in fertilizer, Mr. Minh saw people cutting down jackfruit trees for firewood. Remembering the professor's inquiry about finding jackfruit wood to build a church, he decided to change professions.

After more than 20 years, starting as a farmer with a 15 million VND advance from a customer, Mr. Nguyen Van Minh, 56 years old, residing in Truong Son commune, Duc Tho district, has become the owner of two carpentry workshops in Ha Tinh and Nam Dinh , famous for his nickname Minh "Mit".

In Ben Hen village, Truong Son commune, Mr. Minh's hometown, the traditional crafts are clam harvesting and boat building. From the age of 6 or 7, young Minh learned carpentry from his father and grandfather, but he abandoned it. In 1986, after marrying a girl from the same commune, Mr. Minh started trading in phosphate fertilizers. Every day, he ordered phosphate fertilizers, lime, etc., from dealers, then contacted agricultural cooperatives to transport and deliver the goods to the people.

In 2003, Mr. Minh happened to meet a professor who was in Duc Tho researching how to build a church using jackfruit wood, with the frame already prepared and then transported to Hanoi for construction. The professor asked, "Do you have any jackfruit wood to use?" Mr. Minh replied vaguely, "Building something with jackfruit wood is simple." The two exchanged phone numbers, without making any promises.

Mr. Nguyen Van Minh, Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer of 2023. Photo: Duc Hung

Mr. Minh thought the professor was "just joking," because after decades of traveling through the mountainous regions of Huong Son, Huong Khe, and Vu Quang, he had seen people cutting down jackfruit trees for firewood and leaving them lying around in their gardens because they were considered worthless. "Why would the professor ask someone to build a church with jackfruit wood? There are plenty of other expensive types of wood," Mr. Minh pondered. He then recalled his grandfather's teachings from his carpentry apprenticeship: jackfruit wood is light, flexible, and suitable for carving Buddha statues or constructing religious buildings.

Understanding the value of jackfruit wood, Mr. Minh decided to switch to building churches and religious artifacts using this type of wood. That was in 2007, and his first customer was the professor he had met before. After a phone conversation, the professor said that he hadn't found a suitable craftsman to build a church in the past four years. Hearing Mr. Minh say he was just starting out and hadn't completed any projects yet, the professor reassured him: "I have faith in you."

The two later met in Duc Tho district and agreed on a total project cost of 120 million VND. Mr. Minh requested an advance of 15 million VND because he lacked capital. With the money, he went to the mountainous areas to buy jackfruit wood, sawed it himself, and brought it home, repurposing a small yard in his family's yard as a workshop. He hired four workers from the neighborhood, paying them 25,000 VND per day.

Starting his business with no capital, no workshop, no machinery, no employees, Mr. Minh was questioned by his wife: "Why don't you stick with your old trade? Expanding it so much will only make things harder. What if it fails and they demand compensation? Where will we get the money to pay? We have four young children, and I'm afraid they'll suffer." Neighbors gossiped about his change of profession, saying, "I've never seen anyone do this," and even inquired whether his workers were getting paid.

Workers at Mr. Minh's facility are constructing the frame of a church using jackfruit wood. Photo: Duc Hung

After securing the land and hiring workers, Mr. Minh cycled throughout the district every day, photographing beautiful church designs, bringing them back to study and learn from the architecture to gain experience. After six months, he and four workers completed the framework and other components, and transported them to Hanoi to build the church for the professor. Upon receiving the remaining 105 million dong, Mr. Minh looked at the workers and burst into tears.

Starting with limited capital, Mr. Minh invested in machinery and, in addition to building churches, also took on jobs making staircases and furniture. He received a loan of 120 million VND from the bank. In 2012, the government leased him 1,500 square meters of land near the center of Truong Son commune to build a workshop, but he only rented 550 square meters "because he was afraid of incurring losses and damaging his reputation." At this time, Mr. Minh specialized only in building churches, realizing that long-term furniture making would be difficult to compete with many other businesses.

When a customer places an order, he prepares the wood, studies the structure, then cuts, carves, and shapes it into a frame and creates decorative patterns. A church typically measures 70-100 square meters, is 6 meters high, 7 meters wide, and 12 meters long. The carpentry workshop prepares the materials and builds the frame within one to two months, then transports it by truck for assembly. Building one church takes about 3-4 days. Besides jackfruit wood, he can provide any other type of wood requested.

Farmers 'revive' jackfruit wood, earning billions of dong annually.

Mr. Minh shares his experience in building wooden churches. Video: Duc Hung

According to Mr. Minh, the most difficult part is assembling the wooden blocks onto a unified axis. This requires highly skilled craftsmen when cutting and making rafters. If a piece is carved out of place, it will never fit together properly when erected. For this stage, Mr. Minh constantly observes the workers, only approving the project when he is completely satisfied. To date, he has built over 300 churches, and not a single one has been flawed.

The workshop builds over 20 churches a year, costing between 300 million and one billion VND, with many costing 4-5 billion VND. After deducting all expenses, each project yields a 10% profit, averaging around 4 billion VND in profit annually. The workshop currently employs over 20 workers. Carvers earn over one million VND per day, assemblers earn 500,000 VND, and some workers earn nearly 30 million VND per month for completing 28 workdays.

Starting from nothing, Mr. Minh has now built a spacious house, bought a car, and his four children have moved out and are financially well-off. In addition to his existing business, Mr. Minh has opened a furniture and religious artifact workshop in Nam Dinh, hiring relatives to manage it.

As one of the 100 people recently awarded the title of Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer 2023 by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Association, Mr. Minh expressed his surprise, saying: "This honor also creates a lot of pressure. Customers always have high demands, so we have to constantly research and innovate new products to meet them."

Workers at Mr. Minh's facility. Photo: Duc Hung

Mr. Tran Thanh Sang, Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Truong Son commune, praised member Minh for his perseverance and strong will, despite his difficult background. "Truong Son is a famous village for carpentry and boat building, but that tradition has declined due to competition. Mr. Minh has taken a new direction by building wooden houses and religious artifacts, creating a large market, providing jobs for the people, and preserving the traditional craft of the commune," Mr. Sang said.

Duc Hung

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