(HBO) – Already at an age to retire, and being well off, Pham Tien Sinh in Nam Thuong village, Nam Thuong commune (Kim Boi) is not content with retiring as he feel he is still fit enough to continue working. With this thought, he embarked on a new path to realise the dream of conquering hi-tech agriculture.

Photo:
Pham Tien Sinh takes care of "Kim hoang hau” melons which are grown under the
VietGAP standards, the outcome of the elderly farmer’s first year of startup.
From the media, he learned that
some provinces and cities throughout the country had successfully applied
greenhouse technology in agricultural production. Therefore, he packed up and set
out to pursue his dream of seeing with his own eyes and learning the model.
Sinh said he travelled to Da Lat (Lam Dong) and Ho Chi Minh City. He
immediately fell in love with the farming models and wanted to try immediately.
In 2016, he decided to use all the money he had
to pursue his dream of hi-tech agriculture, which was a big risk as high
technology is very expensive. The cost of technical infrastructure, greenhouse
system and net house amounted to billions of VND. In return, the investment
created a breakthrough in production, the value of his products thereby
increased significantly. Sinh became the first in the locality to conquer this
ground-breaking application.
Since early 2017, the province’s market
has seen the appearance of muskmelons, "Kim hoang hau” melons and cucumbers
branded Hoa Binh GAP every two and a half months. These products are grown in
high technology greenhouse with automatic watering equipment of Pham Tien Sinh.
The products are welcomed in the market both in and outside the province. They
are frequently in shortage conditions.
The elderly farmer said that it
took him a lot of time to find the place with right conditions and then about
one more year to build infrastructure meeting technological standards. Finally,
his new greenhouse system was put into use at Village 2, Thanh Ha Town (Lac
Thuy). Sinh dedicates all his attention, time and capital, including borrowed
money, to the project. Every day, from dawn to dusk, he travels over more than
20 km by motorcycle from home to the farm and stays there until it is dark.
The greenhouse system and
irrigation equipment of the farmer meet the standard of Israel. The cultivation
in greenhouse has an outstanding advantage of avoiding rain, sunshine and the
invasion of insects while allowing the proactive provision of nutrition for plants.
Thanks to the system, he can produce clean, safe and non-pesticide products to
the VietGAP standards. His company has a technical staff, while creating jobs
for 10 local workers.
After one year, the farm produced four crops of
fruit, with total turnover of 1.4 billion VND. Sinh calculates that he can
recover the investment after two years, and he will enjoy profit for the next
years. In addition, he plans to expand the greenhouse area from 5,000 square
metres to 10,000 square metres in 2018. The remaining 4 hectares of his land
will be used to grow organic vegetables to meet increasing demand of the
market.
Dao Village’s honey – a product certified with a 3-star OCOP (One Commune One Product) rating by Thong Nhat Agricultural Cooperative in Dao Village (Hoa Binh City) – is highly regarded by consumers for its quality, richness, and variety in packaging. The distinctively sweet taste of Dao Village’s honey leaves a lasting impression on anyone who has tried it.
In alignment with Project No. 07-DA/TU, issued by the Hoa Binh provincial Party Committee on November 1, 2021, Lac Thuy district has actively promoted investment and supported the sustainable development of its industrial and handicraft sectors during the 2021–2025 period. Alongside this, the district has remained committed to preserving and revitalising traditional craft villages.
Located in the northern part of Lac Thuy district, with a temperate climate and fertile soil, Phu Thanh commune has great potential and advantages in growing tea. The long-standing experience, combined with strict adherence to organic farming practices in the tea gardens, ensures that the dried tea products from Phu Thanh and Lac Thuy as a whole are sold out immediately upon production, providing a stable and prosperous life for the local people.
Amid efforts to streamline the administrative apparatus, Hoa Binh province has intensified measures to address challenges in land clearance, resettlement support, and infrastructure investment, aiming to speed up the progress of key projects.
Hoa Binh province has posted an unprecedented economic growth rate of 12.76% in the first quarter of 2025, marking its highest quarterly performance to date and positioning it as the second fastest-growing locality in the country, trailing only Bac Giang province.
Under current regulations, products in the One Commune – One Product (OCOP) programme that are rated three stars or higher must undergo re-evaluation every three months. However, in reality, some of these products fail to consistently meet the required standards, raising concerns about the sustainability of their OCOP certification. This underscores the urgent need for producers to enhance product quality and gradually develop their OCOP products into strong, marketable brands.