A movement to promote the proactive engagement of women in the study, creative labour and building prosperous and happy families is spreading more and more widely in the local women’s unions in Hoa Binh, attracting a large number of women. Bui Thi Xiem, Director of Thien Loi An medicinal herbs cooperative in Kim Boi commune, Kim Boi district, emerges as one of typical examples in implementing the movement.
Bui Thi Xiem (R), Director of the Thien Loi An medicinal herbs cooperative in Kim Boi commune, Kim Boi district, is a typical example in a movement to promote women’s startups and creative labour.
Xiem decided to establish the cooperative in 2020 to connect production and bring medicinal herbs to the market nationwide. Since its establishment, the cooperative averagely supplies nearly 10,000 medicinal herbs of all kinds to the market a year.
She said her family has been practicing traditional herbal medicine for a long time, regularly purchasing medicinal herbs from local people, so she understands the characteristics of herbal medicines. The formation of the cooperative is expected to create stable jobs for rural labourers and contribute to conserving rare medicinal plants.
So far, the cooperative has offered many products in the market, including Homalomena aromatica jelly, Celastrus approximatus Craib jelly, Solanum procumbens jelly, and Panax Notoginseng jelly. To achieve success, Xiem has gone through many difficulties and challenges, requiring her to be determined, learn, and gain experience to create a unique feature for her products.
The cooperative has cooperated with 16 households to grow medicinal plants with a total area of 5 ha, serving processing and production activities. Many households in Kim Boi commune have had additional income from growing medicinal plants.
The cooperative's annual revenue reaches over 500 million VND (nearly 19,700 USD), creating regular jobs for six workers with a monthly income of 5 - 6 million VND each; and over 40 part-time labourers.
Chairwoman of the women's union of Kim Boi commune Bui Thi Trang said Xiem is an active member in the women's movement, and an exemplary figure in exploring, starting a business, and effectively developing household economics in the locality.
With her idea to process medicinal herbs has initially produced positive results, utilising the available medicinal resources of the locality, while preserving traditional remedies, and creating stable income for her family.
Xiem aims to develop Homalomena aromatica cream product into an OCOP (One Commune, One Product) item in 2024. She also plans to enhance the promotion and introduction of her products through e-commerce channels to access more consumers.
Once a mountainous province facing many challenges, Hoa Binh has, after more than a decade of implementing the national target programme on new-style rural area development, emerged as a bright spot in Vietnam’s northern midland and mountainous region. In the first quarter of 2025, the province recorded positive results, paving the way for Hoa Binh to enter a phase of accelerated growth with a proactive and confident mindset.
Hoa Binh province is steadily advancing its agricultural sector through the adoption of high-tech solutions, seen as a sustainable path for long-term development.
The steering committee for key projects of Hoa Binh province convened on May 14 to assess the progress of major ongoing developments
A delegation of Hoa Binh province has attended the "Meet Korea 2025" event, recently held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Embassy of the Republic of Korea (RoK) in Vietnam, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, and the People's Committee of Hung Yen province.
Hoa Binh province joined Vietnam’s national "One Commune, One Product” (OCOP) programme in 2019, not simply as a mountainous region following central policy, but with a clear vision to revive the cultural and agricultural values in its villages and crops.
From just 16 certified products in its inaugural year to 158 by early 2025, the One Commune One Product (OCOP) programme in Hoa Binh province has followed a steady and strategic path. But beyond the numbers, it has reawakened local heritage, turning oranges, bamboo shoots, brocade, and herbal remedies into branded, market-ready goods - and, more profoundly, transformed how local communities value and present their own cultural identity.
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