(BGO) – With nearly 30 years working in the field, Hoang Ngoc Tinh (born in 1974), Director of the Luc Nam Cucumber Cooperative clearly understands that for "rural people" like him that every inch of land is a fortune and each successful harvest multiplies their joys. With that in mind, he quietly walked step by step and collected "sweet fruit" in his native land, becoming a man bringing agricultural products to everywhere.
Starting business from more than 3 sao of land as "dowry"
In 2021, when Bac Giang was the "Covid-19 epicenter" of the country, many localities were locked down. In Dong Phu commune (Luc Nam), tens of hectares of cucumber were at risk of being overgrown when Cay Da village had a positive case for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Tinh went directly to each checkpoint to purchase cucumbers and then found ways to transport them for sale.
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Hoang Ngoc Tinh checks the quality of cucumbers before handing over them to customers. |
Born and grown in Va village, Dong Phu commune, from a young age, Hoang Ngoc Tinh dreamed of learning at university, but due to his family circumstance, he quit school after finishing 8th grade and stayed home to help his parents take care of their field.
Sticking to the field since childhood, he understood that for farmers, an inch of land is an inch of gold and agricultural products are the result of labor, so he constantly explored and learned from economic development experience.
A big turning point came to him when he got married in 1993. Living separately, he and his wife received more than 3 sao of land (one sao = 360sq.m) as the "dowry" from both families. The couple decided to improve the land, shifting from growing sweet potato to cucumber.
“Realizing that retail was not effective, after many times going to the market, I got connected with a trader in Tu Son town, now Tu Son city (Bac Ninh). Besides my family's products, I collected cucumbers from people in the village. Traders took trucks to the village to buy cucumbers. This is considered the "key" to open opportunities for farmers to get rich," Tinh confided.
After many years of producing and selling agricultural products, in 2020, he and some others set up the Luc Nam Cucumber Cooperative, with Tinh being the director. Since the cooperative was formed, contracts to sell agricultural products have been increasing. Currently, the cooperative has a contract to supply 20-30 tonnes of cucumbers per day to G.O.C Import-Export and Processing Joint Stock Company in Tan Dinh commune (Lang Giang district). It has also signed contracts with partners in Hanoi city as well as central provinces...
Each year, the cooperative sells about 7,000 tonnes of agricultural products, mainly cucumber, potato, taro and onion, for people in the commune and neighboring localities, of which more than half is cucumber.
Dream of bringing agricultural products to foreign markets
In order to gradually bring the "Luc Nam cucumber" into the modern retail system, in 2021, the Luc Nam Cucumber Cooperative sent the product for evaluation and classification and it was recognized as a 3-star OCOP product. .
During the time when the Covid-19 epidemic developed complicatedly, Hoang Ngoc Tinh went to each checkpoint to buy cucumbers from local farmers.
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This year, the cooperative organized production according to VietGAP standard on an area of 35 hectares and invested in packaging and labeling to upgrade this product. In particular, it is completing the dossier proposing the building of 5,000sq.m of net houses, and a 2,000sq.m area for preliminary processing, packaging and preservation. Once approved, right this year, the cooperative will allocate about 5 billion VND (215,680 USD) for implementation.
“The quality of Luc Nam cucumber has been confirmed when it was always sold out. However, I always worry about building a brand for the product so that it can officially enter supermarket systems and modern retail chains, and then be exported. This is considered a long-term, effective direction, not only getting rich but also contributing to creating stable jobs for many rural workers," Tinh said.
