Billionaire in Lao Cai, grows delicious tomatoes, variety from Israel, farmer holds billions of dollars/year

Mr. Nguyen Phuc Minh, a billionaire farmer in Lao Cai, O Quy Ho ward, Sa Pa town, used to grow roses and lilies, but he never earned as much money as growing off-season tomatoes. The tomato variety he grows is from Israel, which brings in billions of dollars a year. He was honored to receive a Certificate of Merit from the Prime Minister.

Model of growing off-season Israeli tomatoes in a greenhouse of Mr. Nguyen Phuc Minh's family, a Lao Cai billionaire in group 1, O Quy Ho ward, Sa Pa town. Photo: Spring.

Earn 7-8 billion/year from growing roses and lilies

This year, over 66 years old, Mr. Nguyen Phuc Minh is still diligent, hard-working, actively participating in production labor, growing tomatoes and chayote with an output of hundreds of tons of fruit sold to the market.

Taking us to visit the tomato garden that was invested in systematically and scientifically, with a greenhouse system using drip irrigation technology, Mr. Nguyen Phuc Minh said: In 1985, after being discharged from the army and returning to his hometown, Mr. Minh worked at the Department of Industry of the former Hoang Lien Son province, now Lao Cai province.

After 4 years of working, he moved to O Quy Ho, Sa Pa town to settle down, got married and gradually became attached to farming. At first, Mr. Minh only grew medicinal herbs such as Chuan khung and Moc huong but the efficiency was low.

After seeing many people in Me Linh (Hanoi) renting land to grow flowers, Mr. Minh asked to work for hire and learned about planting, caring, fertilizing, harvesting...

From the experience and knowledge he learned, Mr. Minh converted his family's vacant hill land to grow roses, lilies, and chayote for fruit.

Mr. Nguyen Phuc Minh, group 1, O Quy Ho ward, Sa Pa town, makes beds to grow tomatoes. Photo: Spring.

According to Mr. Minh, after about 20 years of growing flowers, especially lilies, a flower with high economic value that once brought in revenue of 7-8 billion VND/year, he found a way to switch to growing a new plant, tomatoes.

Mr. Nguyen Phuc Minh, group 1, O Quy Ho ward, Sa Pa town takes care of tomato seedlings. Photo: Spring.

Explaining the reason for switching to tomato cultivation, Mr. Minh said that growing lilies requires a large enough area, requires a lot of care, and the soil is becoming increasingly infertile. At the same time, the cost of buying seedlings to grow lilies is quite high, leading to lower profits.

Therefore, when realizing that growing tomatoes off-season brings higher profits, in 2020, Mr. Minh's family decided to switch to growing tomatoes.

Currently, Mr. Minh's family has 2.5 hectares of tomatoes grown in greenhouses and using automatic drip irrigation technology. This is a tomato variety imported from Israel, so it has a much higher yield and quality than other tomatoes.

In addition, Sa Pa's weather is cool all year round, O Quy Ho is always known as the "windy pass", this is also a favorable condition for the growth and development of off-season tomatoes.

Lao Cai billionaire grows Israeli tomatoes and earns billions

Mr. Minh grows off-season tomatoes from February to October. When the harvest season in Sa Pa ends, tomatoes are available for sale in the lowlands, so he doesn’t have to worry about a good harvest and low prices.

Israeli tomato plants are about 2m tall, with fruit hanging from the base to the top, each fruit is large, round, plump, and weighs 2-3 fruits/kg.

Imported tomato plants are growing and developing well in Sa Pa. Photo: Spring.

In the 2024 off-season tomato crop alone, Mr. Minh's family harvested 300 tons of fruit, with a selling price of 15,000 VND/kg, earning 4.5 billion VND, after deducting expenses, the profit was 2 billion VND. The main tomato consumption market is in big cities, especially the Hanoi area...

Tomatoes of Mr. Minh's family as well as many other households in Sa Pa town are gradually affirming their brand in the market, being favored and highly appreciated by many consumers. Israeli tomato productivity can reach about 100 tons of fresh fruit/ha/year, with 1ha of Israeli tomatoes, farmers will earn over 1.5 billion VND.

This model not only contributes to increasing farmers' income but also creates regular and seasonal jobs for dozens of local workers.

Sharing his experience in growing tomatoes, Mr. Minh added: For tomatoes to grow and develop well, first you need to sow the seeds a month in advance. Then prepare the soil, compost manure in the soil for about 2-3 months and then make beds to plant tomatoes.

When planting, to limit weed growth, my family also covered the entire bed with a layer of plastic to limit weed growth. This way, the tomato plants grow well and give high yields.

The tomato garden is laden with fruit, bringing in billions of dong to the family of Mr. Nguyen Phuc Minh, a billionaire farmer in Lao Cai, group 1, O Quy Ho ward, Sa Pa town. Photo: NVCC.

"I have been to many places to learn about growing and caring for plants such as flowers, tomatoes... But to achieve success like today, the most important thing is that from that practical experience, I have learned my own experience, methods, and directions in economic development," Mr. Minh confided.

In addition to growing tomatoes, Mr. Minh's family also grows 1.5 hectares of chayote to sell fruit. Last year, Mr. Minh's family harvested 100 tons of chayote to sell on the market, earning 800 million VND.

With his diligence and hard work in production, Mr. Nguyen Phuc Minh was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Prime Minister for having an excellent production and business model, uniting to help each other get rich and sustainably reduce poverty.

He has helped many farming households reduce poverty, create jobs for local people; the Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union awarded him a Certificate of Merit in the emulation movement of good production and business, solidarity to help each other get rich and sustainably reduce poverty in the period 2015 - 2020.

Billionaire farmer in Lao Cai, Mr. Nguyen Phuc Minh, Group 1, O Quy Ho Ward, Sa Pa Town, excitedly talks about high-quality tomatoes. Photo: NVCC.

Source: https://danviet.vn/ty-phu-lao-cai-trong-ca-chua-ngon-giong-xuat-xu-tu-israel-ong-nong-dan-cam-chac-tien-ty-nam-20250318151752576.htm