Enterprising rural youths in Vietnam get together to share experience
Friday, June 26, 2015, 15:24 GMT+7
One hundred and fifty rural youths gathered in Hanoi over the weekend to be honored for their entrepreneurial accomplishments and share their success stories.
On Saturday, these young people got together at the Vietnam Youth Academy in Hanoi and were honored with the 10th Luong Dinh Cua Awards.
The awards, given away by the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, are named for Luong Dinh Cua (1920-1975), an eminent Vietnamese agriculturalist who made astounding contributions to local agriculture.
Ninety-six business models run by these youths earn annual revenue of over VND500 million (US$22,904), with several pocketing around VND1 billion ($45,809) each year, whopping income for a country where GDP per capita is a mere $2,000.
They have also provided regular jobs for over 1,329 workers.
At the Saturday ceremony, the five most outstanding farmers/businessmen among this year’s batch of laureates were also presented with certificates of merit from the prime minister.
The 150 youths also partook in the 2nd National Rural Youth Festival, which ran from Thursday to Saturday.
Among them is Ha Quang Hanh, a Thai ethnic minority man from the northern province of Yen Bai who daringly began his start-up farming business eight years ago, when he was only 18.
His farm, which now boasts over 10,000 square meters of squash, bitter melon and melon for seeds, earns him annual profits of approximately VND300 million ($13,743).
He has also talked 30 local households into growing such plants on their soil, providing stable income and jobs for many locals and youngsters.
Similarly, Ma A Nu, 21, a Mong ethnic man from the northern province of Lao Cai, has made a fortune right in his hometown.
In 2013, after acquiring methods of essential oil extraction, Nu persuaded several of his peers to form a cooperative and tap into their hometown’s bountiful medicinal herb reservoir.
The young man and his partners have created a 1.5-hectare plot of herbs, and manage around 60 hectares of wild herbs.
Their cooperative harvests roughly 100 metric tons of raw herbs each year for oil extraction, and also offers herbal baths and tourist homestay services.
Their revenue last year topped VND500 million and is expected to double this year.
Nu revealed that one is supposed to say no to outdated, low-efficiency farming methods and switch to a high-profitability model which harnesses the advantages of the local climate, soil and plants.
Meanwhile, Nguyen Van Ky, from the central province of Quang Nam, divulged that less than two years after being discharged from the army, he now owns 150 beehives which yield VND500 million in annual turnover.
He chose not to grow rubber and “keo” (acacia) trees as many households in his hometown do, as these plants will not yield until after four or five years.
“Raising bees recoups investment quickly and bees can feed on the boundless “keo” and rubber trees,” he explained.
Nguyen Duc Quang, from northern Hai Duong Province, has carved out a profitable business with several thousand fruit-laden trees, cattle and poultry and pocketed over VND600 million ($27,485) in annual revenue.
He revealed he suffered repeated failures due to pests but managed to pick himself up.
Nguyen Lan Hung, a respected agriculturalist who chaired a workshop held on Friday within the 2nd National Rural Youth Festival’s framework, highly appreciated the 150 aspiring youths’ efforts.
However, many of them have taught themselves and reaped success mostly thanks to sheer luck.
“Apart from their zeal and young age, most of them are short on professional skills and knowledge to adopt hi-end technological advances. They also lack vision regarding where to invest, resulting in unsustainable growth,” Lan stressed.
The expert called for proper guidance and assistance from organizations, including the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union.
