HBO – Bui Van Luc, Secretary of the Party Committee of Son Thuy commune (Kim Boi district), is one of the pioneers in bringing Huong Chi longan variety to the locality and successfully creating Son Thuy longan variety, which has opened opportunities for local people to escape poverty and get rich. He was selected as an excellent farmer and was honoured with certificates of merit by the State President and the Prime Minister.
In 1998-1999, local
residents in not only Son Thuy but also other communes in Kim Boi district lived
in hardship all year round. Their livelihoods and incomes mostly relied on
agricultural production, therefore, no one thought they could get rich. They
also studied and tried growing many kinds of plants such as watermelon and
litchis and raising a lot of animals like pigs and chickens. However, their
incomes even were not enough to feed them.
In 1993, after finishing
his military services, Luc returned to his homeland and worked as a farmer. His
concern at that time was to find out a working method to stabilise his life. He
did many jobs from fish raising, vegetable planting to afforestation, and he also
failed many times.
When visiting a relative
in Hung Yen province and seeing that local people had a stable and well-off
life thanks to longan planting, he decided to invest in growing Huong Chi
longan. He bravely bid
1.3
hectares of uncultivated land to plant Huong Chi longan.
Bui Van Luc checks Son Thuy longan quality
He then worked and learned
from experience of longan farmers in Hung Yen province as well as books and newspapers
to have his own experience in caring the trees, pruning and grafting,
fertilizing, and preventing diseases. Therefore, the productivity and yield of
his longan trees increased year after year. After one decade, longan is proved
to be suitable for local weather and soil and bring the biggest economic
efficiency in Son Thuy.
Luc now owns
2.2 hectares of longan
with 450 trees of Huong Chi longan and other longan varieties which have the
total yield of 25-40 tonnes a year, producing profits of 500-700 million VND
for his family.
In 2016, the National
Office of Intellectual Property under the Ministry of Science and Technology granted
a collective label certificate to Son Thuy longan, opening a new opportunity
for the product to gain a firm foothold in the market.
Son Thuy longan, whose
seed is small, is juicy and its taste is sweet and different from other
varieties in the locality. Together with
Hanoi,
Phu Tho and Nghe An, the product’s presence is now expanded to Hai Duong and Hai
Phong.
Longan is helping local
people change their life. At present, 54 percent of local households are growing
longans. The commune has
110
hectares of longans, of which
58 hectares have had
fruits for harvest. Its total longan output this year reached 700 tonnes, earning
local farmers 14 billion VND, or 250 million VND per hectare. The value can
reach 400-500 million VND per hectare if longan trees receive good care.
Thanks to longan growing,
many local households escaped poverty and some others earned more than 100
million VND a year. Many of them now have new-model cars, and can build big
houses. Their children can also pursue their learning without worries. Son Thuy
currently forms a production region for commercial products that is a dream of
many other localities./.
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.
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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.
