The model of growing fruit trees brings in hundreds of millions of dong in income in Lien Minh commune (Sa Pa). Photo: by Viet Vinh

In 1995, Mr. Do Phu Chinh left his hometown Phuc Tho, Ha Tay (now Hanoi) to settle down in residential group 14, Sa Pa town (now group 2, O Quy Ho ward, Sa Pa town). In the new land, Chinh and his family prepared soil and planted vegetables and chayote. They made delicious vegetables, good fruit but couldn't find a consumer market, so the economic efficiency is not high.

By 2010, seeing that Sa Pa tourism was on the rise, Mr. Chinh learned how to extract and propagate Mrs. B.R. Cant Rose and planted about 200 trees. After 1 year, the tree grew well, he again came up with the idea of ​​converting tourism by expanding the area of ​​growing ancient roses, Mrs. B.R. Cant Rose, to serve visiting and experiencing. Mr. Chinh confided: “At the beginning of 2012, I decided to convert all of the land planted to chayote (about 2 hectares) to grow ancient roses. At that time, Mrs. B.R. Cant Rose was popular in the market and many people bought for their hobby. Seeing that, I propagated the supply to the market, opened more restaurants and expanded the area of the rose garden named “Vuon Hong Mong Mo” to serve culinary needs, creating a check-in point for visitors to explore and discover”.

Do Phu Chinh's Vuon Hong Mong Mo, O Quy Ho Ward, Sapa Town.

After 10 years of starting a business, Chinh's family now owns about 3,000 Sa Pa ancient roses and 70 species of roses, including many types of Vietnamese antique roses. In particular, in May 2020, Mong Mo Rose Garden was recognized by the Provincial People's Committee as a tourist destination in Sa Pa. The restaurant area, the ancient rose garden of Mr. Chinh's family brings in an income of 1.2 billion VND/year, creating jobs for 15-20 local workers with an average income of 6 to 10 million VND/month.

In the coming time, Mr. Chinh plans to focus on conserving rare and precious persimmons, promoting the production of rose products such as tea and rose essential oil, etc.

Born in the poor countryside of Nam Det (Bac Ha district), the life of Trieu Phuc Vay's whole family, the Dao ethnic group only relies on rice and maize. Realizing the economic potential of cinnamon, farmer Trieu Phuc Vay decided to start a business from this crop. He converted all of his corn land to cinnamon. However, although the cinnamon tree grows and develops well, the value is not high because the whole product is only sold in raw form. In 2018, he founded the Nam Det Organic Cinnamon Cooperative with the aim of building an organic cinnamon production area and cooperating with companies and businesses to process cinnamon products for export to the Japanese, Europe market, bring higher income for cinnamon growers here.

After its establishment, the cooperative has invested in factories, warehouses, machinery, etc. with the determination to build a scientific process of cinnamon production, processing and consumption, towards sustainable development. Currently, the cooperative is affiliated with nearly 100 cinnamon growing households, creating favorable conditions for households to develop production and business. Every year, the output of fresh cinnamon bark purchased by the cooperative reaches nearly 800 tons, more than 40 tons of essential oil and nearly 500 m3 of cinnamon wood; Cinnamon products are exported to India, Japan, the Middle East and some European countries, earning billions dong. Mr. Trieu Phuc Vay said: “To start a successful business, you must first overcome yourself, grasp the advantages and choose the right investment direction”.

In the province, there are many other successful start-up farmer models, not only the startup model of Do Phu Chinh, Mr. Trieu Phuc Vay. That are the model of Manh Huong Agricultural Products and Medicinal Materials Cooperative (Gia Phu commune, Bao Thang district) owned by farmer Nguyen Tien Manh, whose revenue reached over 2 billion VND/year; model of growing red flesh dragon fruit of farmer Tran Van Hien (Minh Hai village, Minh Tan commune, Bao Yen district), whose revenue reached 350 million VND/year; general breeding farm model of farmer Ngo Tien Dung (Sin Chai village, Ban Me commune, Si Ma Cai district), whose revenue reached over 800 million VND/year, etc.

Successful start-up, in addition to the efforts of farmers, is also supported by farmers' associations at all levels. Over the years, the Provincial Farmers' Association has promoted propaganda to its members and farmers about the Project to support the national startup, innovation and creativity ecosystem by 2025; Plan to support eco-startup, innovation and creativity in Lao Cai province in the period of 2017 - 2020, with orientation to 2025; The project of the Central Vietnam Farmers' Union on enhancing the role of farmers' associations in supporting farmers to start-up and innovate in the period of 2020 - 2025. Along with that, farmers' associations at all levels have performed their role of connecting, introducing the start-up models to farmers to promote them to build start-up ideas.

Dream Rose Garden recognized as a tourist destination by the Provincial People's Committee.

Mr. Bui Quang Hung, Chairman of the Provincial Farmers' Association said: Supporting farmers to start a business is a political task of the farmer association organization, contributing to the realization of the Party's goals which is the development of prosperous agriculture, rich farmers, civilized and modern countryside. Therefore, the Provincial Farmers' Union has promoted propaganda about the spirit of entrepreneurship and creativity, promoting members and farmers to have more ambitions and aspirations to start a business, perfecting new production and business ideas and seeking investment opportunities, to get wealth, to contribute to local socio-economic development. Along with that, strengthening fostering and training of knowledge and skills on innovative start-ups, etc. In the coming time, the Provincial Farmers' Association will study and establish clubs such as Start-up Farmers, Agricultural Entrepreneurs, Billionaire Farmers, Farmers' Scientists, etc. to create a spread and attract farmer members to participate.