(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.
According to data from the Hoa Binh Provincial Party Committee, the industrial production index for the first six months of 2025 is estimated to have increased by 20% compared to the same period last year. This marks the highest year-on-year growth rate for this period since 2020.
In the first six months of 2025, Hoa Binh province’s export turnover was estimated at 1.145 billion USD, marking an 18.11% increase compared to the same period in 2024. Import turnover was estimated at $ 804 million, a 17.15% increase, which helped the province maintain a positive trade balance.
The lives of the ethnic minority farmers in Tan Lac district have gradually improved thanks to the new directions in agricultural production. This is a testament to the collective strength fostered through the professional associations and groups implemented by various levels of the district’s Farmers’ Union.
With the motto the "product quality comes first,” after nearly one year of establishment and operation, Muong village’s Clean Food Agricultural and Commercial Cooperative, located in Cau Hamlet, Hung Son Commune (Kim Boi district), has launched reputable, high-quality agricultural products to the market that are well-received by consumers. The products such as Muong village’s pork sausage, salt-cured chicken, and salt-cured pork hocks have gradually carved out a place in the market and they are on the path to obtaining the OCOP certification.
In the past, the phrase "bumper harvest, rock-bottom prices" was a familiar refrain for Vietnamese farmers engaged in fragmented, small-scale agriculture. But today, a new spirit is emerging across rural areas of Hoa Binh province - one of collaboration, organisation, and collective economic models that provide a stable foundation for production.
Maintaining growing area codes and packing facility codes in accordance with regulations is a mandatory requirement for agricultural products to be eligible for export. Recently, the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Hoa Binh province has intensified technical supervision of designated farming areas and packing facilities to safeguard the "green passport" that enables its products to access international markets.