Female farmer raising "white gold" honored as Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer in 2024

Ms. Nguyen Thi Bien in Quang Trung village, Hoang Thanh commune (Hoang Hoa) is known by many people for her clam farming profession. Having been involved in the profession for over 20 years, Ms. Bien is considered by local people as a breeder, exploiter, preserver and restorer of the living environment of this mollusk. With that meaning, Ms. Nguyen Thi Bien is a farmer in Thanh Hoa province who was honored as an Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer in 2024.

Born and raised in coastal areas, life closely linked to the sea has helped people adapt and understand the changes of the tides. Realizing that the homeland's sea has many potentials and strengths for aquaculture and exploitation, including clam farming, after many efforts, struggles, and experience accumulation, with the help of farmers' associations at all levels, Ms. Nguyen Thi Bien's family has expanded the clam farming area to 50 hectares, of which 30 hectares are for commercial clam farming and 20 hectares are specialized in seed production.

After many years of working with clams, traveling to many provinces from Thanh Hoa to Hai Phong, Ms. Nguyen Thi Bien has learned many things from clams... Ms. Bien has discovered the reproductive cycle of clams and taken advantage of the knowledge accumulated over many years from clams, to when the time comes to stimulate reproduction, collect eggs and produce clam seeds, and supply them to the market. This is a significant turning point, deciding a lot on the effectiveness of clam farming in tidal flats.

Ms. Bien shared: "My family has cooperated to purchase and consume large quantities of clams for localities in and outside the province. I bid for more areas in Hau Loc district, Nghi Son town and coastal provinces such as Hai Phong, Thai Binh, Nam Dinh and expanded the consumption market to the northern and central provinces. After nearly 15 years of accumulating knowledge, techniques, experience and capital, by 2019 my family had invested over 27 billion VND to expand the farming area and purchase some specialized exploitation machinery."

Every year, Ms. Bien's clam farm provides breeding stock for an area of ​​over 1,000 hectares, with a farming and purchasing output of over 100,000 tons of commercial clams, and Ms. Bien's family has registered to build a product brand.

Currently, the clam, dat, don products of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Bien's family are trusted by many customers, so the market has expanded to the South Central provinces and many other provinces. After deducting expenses, in 2023, Mrs. Bien's family earned a profit of over 3.8 billion VND.

With the clam farming model - considered as "white gold", Ms. Bien's family has created regular jobs for 80 workers with an income of 8 to 10 million VND/person/month. In addition, at peak times, her family also attracts up to 150 seasonal workers.

In addition, Ms. Bien's family actively participates in local social activities such as: supporting house building for poor households in the village; on the occasion of Lunar New Year, supporting rice for poor households in the commune with a total value of over 500 million VND; supporting the construction of new rural areas, donating land and contributing a total amount of over 2.5 billion VND; consulting, guiding experience, production and business techniques, helping 87 poor households to escape poverty; supporting and guiding experience, production and business techniques for 30 households with an income of 20 million VND or more/person/month.

With her outstanding achievements in labor, production and business, Ms. Nguyen Thi Bien was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Prime Minister; a Certificate of Merit by the Chairman of Thanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee and was certified as a good farmer and business household at the provincial level and was honored as an Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer in 2024.

Voting and awarding the title of Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer is one of the outstanding and key activities of the Vietnamese Farmers Pride Program. The ceremony to honor and award the title of Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer is expected to take place in mid-October 2024 on the occasion of the 94th anniversary of the founding of the Vietnam Farmers' Association (October 14, 1930 - October 14, 2024).

Hoang Lan

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/nu-nong-dan-nuoi-vang-trang-duoc-vinh-danh-nong-dan-viet-nam-xuat-sac-nam-2024-nbsp-nbsp-226256.htm