(HBO) - Secretary of Hung Tien commune’s Party Committee Bui The Vuong, the commune started growing lemongrass in 2003 when a few farmer households in Ba Bi village planted and sold the product on a small scale.
Leaders of the Huy Chi cooperative in Hung
Tien commune, Hoa
Binh province’s Kim Boi district, discuss ways to improve economic
efficiency of lemongrass growingand processing with local people.
In 2015, after a trader came to install a lemongrass
essential oil extraction machine, local villagers had soon realised
the potential of lemongrass business, which generates revenue five times higher
than rice farming on the same area. So the villagers began expanding the
plant’s growing areas.
The commune has so far cultivated 80 hectares of
lemongrass across four out of its five villages but it still can not supply
enough for the market.
In early 2018, the commune’s Party Committee and People’s
Committee decided to make lemongrass one of the local key agricultural products
and provided over 40 million VND in financial support for 34 lemongrass growers
to scale up their production.
The Huy Chi cooperative was founded three years ago. It
started to cooperate with the villagers, helping them bring lemongrass
essential oil to the market. Many local farmer households
have escaped from poverty and even gotten rich from the lemongrass.
Local authorities and the cooperative have also made
lemongrass products and lemongrass essential oil the main product of the
nationwide programme "One Commune, One Product” (OCOP) between 2018 – 2020.
Lemongrass is a drought-resistant and pest-resistant
plant adaptable to grow in low hills, according to Bui Van Thong, a farmer from
Ba Bi village. The first harvest can be obtained after six months of cultivation, and farmers can harvest two crops per year, he explained. The lemongrass needs to
be replanted after three years.
The average output is 20 tonnes of lemongrass stalksand 10 tonnes of lemongrass leaves per hectare per crop, he said, adding his
family earns a profit of about 75 – 80 million VND from growing the plant.
He
said his family and others in the village grow lemongrass not only
on seperate fields but also together with citrus fruits following intercropping
method.
The expansion of lemongrass areas coupled with
improvement in productivity and profit from the lemongrass farming have been a
new way of developing agriculture in Hung Tien, helping local
people escape from poverty. To date, the commune’s poverty rate dropped to 18.5 percent with all lemongrass households lifted from the poverty
list.
After more than four years of implementing a project launched by the Hoa Binh Party Committee’s Standing Board on developing agriculture and promoting product consumption linked with building new-style rural areas for the 2021-2025 period, the province’s industry and trade sector has made significant strides, greatly contributing to local socio-economic development.
Luong Son district has identified 2025 as the year for the accelerated breakthrough to successfully implement the socio-economic development plan for the 5-year period from 2021 to 2025. The district has been focusing on executing the plans and trying to achieve a GRDP growth rate of approximately 15%.
Since the beginning of this year, under the direction of the Department of Agriculture and Environment, the Sub-Department of Agricultural, Forestry, and Fishery Product Quality Management has strengthened the integration of the professional activities to promote and guide the organizations and individuals in the production and trading of agricultural, forestry, and fishery products to comply with the legal regulations regarding the use of chemicals, pesticides and veterinary medicines in crop cultivation, livestock farming and aquaculture. They also provide guidance to processing and manufacturing establishments on keeping the records to trace the product origins and using food additives from the approved list according to the regulations.
Hoa Binh province saw a significant rise in state budget revenue in the first two months of 2025, heard a meeting chaired by Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Quach Tat Liem.
Ha Thi Ha Chi, a 26-year-old graduate in law, has taken an unconventional path by returning to her hometown in Mai Chau district to establish the Tong Dau Cooperative, creating stable jobs for local women and bringing Thai ethnic brocade weaving to the global market.
As the Lunar New Year 2025 approached, pork prices surged, creating a profitable season for farmers in Tan Vinh commune, Luong Son district. Taking advantage of the rising demand, Can Minh Son, a farmer from Coi hamlet, sold over 30 pigs at 69,000 VND/kg, each weighing more than 100 kg. After deducting expenses, his family earned a profit of over 50 million VND.