“A Separate Way” inspires

Amidst the difficult countryside, many young people in Thai Nguyen province have chosen the path of "sticking to the land and the forest" to develop a green agricultural model.

Nguyen Quoc Hoang chooses wild bitter melon to plant and develop on a large area. Photo: Quoc Hoangn

Starting a business in a difficult land

Born and raised in the old Phu Thuong land (new Vo Nhai commune) of Thai Nguyen province, the young Nung ethnic man Hoang Manh Tuan (born in 1999) soon realized the shortcomings in the traditional agricultural practices of local people, such as the abuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides...

Struggling to find a direction, after graduating from the Department of Plant Science , Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry, he returned to his hometown with the dream of doing clean agriculture. So, in 2023, Hoang Manh Tuan established AE Thai Nguyen Agriculture and Service Company Limited, starting a business with two main products: Microbiological fertilizers and organic vegetables. He took advantage of manure resources, processed them with microbiological technology to create environmentally friendly organic fertilizers. In addition, he built an organic vegetable growing model according to the "5 no" process (no pesticides, chemical fertilizers, growth stimulants, genetically modified varieties and preservatives).

With a strict organic vegetable growing process, the company's products have a rich sweetness, high nutritional content and are safe for health. Thanks to that, AE Thai Nguyen organic vegetable products are currently distributed in Vo Nhai and many urban areas in the province. In the long term, the company aims to cooperate with cooperatives in the region to build a closed clean agricultural product supply chain.

Exploiting the potential of wild bitter melon

Being a Tay ethnic in Yen Trach commune of Thai Nguyen province, in 2014, young man Nguyen Quoc Hoang (born in 1991) graduated in Computer Engineering from the University of Industrial Technology (Thai Nguyen University). After doing many different jobs, in 2020 Nguyen Quoc Hoang decided to return to his hometown to start a business.

With a passion for agriculture, he previously joined the Tien Phong Agricultural Cooperative. At that time, the cooperative had only seven members, specializing in growing medicinal plants, mainly Solanum procumbens. However, due to lack of experience, the Solanum procumbens growing model was initially unsuccessful. Returning to his hometown to start a business, Nguyen Quoc Hoang boldly took over the cooperative and became Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director of the Tien Phong Agricultural Cooperative.

After a period of research, learning, and realizing the strengths of his homeland, Nguyen Quoc Hoang decided to choose wild bitter melon to grow and develop. At first, he experimented on an area of ​​0.8 hectares and successfully brought in a revenue of more than 500 million VND. Then, in 2024, he expanded the scale to increase the total area to 3.3 hectares and made wild bitter melon the main crop of the cooperative. At the same time, he intercropped other medicinal plants such as: Khoi nhung, ba kich... completely in an organic direction. In early 2025, he expanded the planting area to 4 hectares of wild bitter melon to meet market demand.

“In 2024, the cooperative completed the documents to obtain VietGAP and OCOP certifications - aiming to affirm its sustainable brand in the market. Fortunately, up to now, the cooperative is creating jobs for nearly 20 workers, mainly ethnic minorities, with an average salary of 6 million VND/person/month,” said Nguyen Quoc Hoang.

Inevitable trend

Green agriculture development has been of interest to Thai Nguyen province for many years, in which many models have been effective, especially tea specialties. Currently, the province has 60 hectares of tea certified as organic according to TCVN 11041 standards; and has built a 4,000-hectare cinnamon growing area concentrated in a number of communes. The province strives to have about 200 hectares of certified organic tea by the end of 2025; and strives to have 10,000 hectares of concentrated cinnamon by 2030.

To achieve the goal of green growth, propaganda and raising people's awareness of green agriculture is considered by Thai Nguyen as an immediate and long-term solution. At the same time, the province continues to focus on solutions to increase economic value on the same unit of cultivated land; introduce, promote and propagate to replicate clean and green agricultural production models. In addition, the province will organize training, coaching, and transfer of science and technology in the direction of hand-holding and showing farmers in developing green agriculture.

Notably, among hundreds of cooperatives in Thai Nguyen province today, the proportion of cooperatives owned by young people accounts for about 40%. Green farming models among young people, such as Hoang Manh Tuan, or clean medicinal plant growing by Nguyen Quoc Hoang, bring economic efficiency and open up new directions, inspiring many ethnic minority youths to boldly establish themselves and start a business in their homeland.

Hoang Manh Tuan next to the organic vegetable garden.

Hoang Hiep - Vinh Dang

Source: https://nhandan.vn/loi-di-rieng-truyen-cam-hung-post905805.html