Business News – Vân Hồ Agritage

Van Ho agricultural products have a ‘bumper harvest’, opening up a new direction for sustainable development

Vân Hồ — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 04:39:03 +0000

Van Ho Agritage and Kim Son Farm: A bumper crop season, opening up a bright future for sustainable agriculture

After months of diligent planting and care, the first crop season of the cooperation project between Van Ho people and Kim Son Farm has officially ended with complete joy. The rice fields in Ban Buot and Phu Mau, Van Ho district, Son La province, are now wearing a golden coat of rice, potatoes and crops, bringing a bumper crop to the farmers.

https://vanhoagritage.com/wp-content/uploads/6475288503388.mp4

Journey of sowing hope

The cooperation project between Van Ho Agritage and Kim Son Farm was initiated with the goal of bringing sustainable livelihoods based on organic farming with the people, while preserving the cultural values and typical agricultural ecosystem of Van Ho land. As a bridge, Van Ho Agritage has connected and created conditions for farmers to cooperate with Kim Son Farm, a unit with experience and expertise in the field of organic agriculture.

Kim Son Farm has supported farmers with farming techniques, provided quality plant varieties and ensured output for products. The dedicated training and guidance sessions have helped farmers master the necessary knowledge and skills to apply advanced and sustainable farming methods.

Bountiful harvest, double joy

The first crop has brought encouraging results. Crop yields are high, product quality is good, meeting market requirements. The joy of a good harvest not only brings a stable source of income to farmers, but also motivates them to continue to stick with farming and develop their family economy.

A perspective on a sustainable cooperation model

The success of the first crop is a testament to the effectiveness of the cooperation model between social enterprises and agricultural enterprises. Van Ho Agritage has promoted the role of connecting, building trust and consensus between the parties. Kim Son Farm has demonstrated social responsibility, sharing knowledge and experience, accompanying farmers.

This model not only brings economic benefits, but also contributes to preserving the cultural values and agricultural ecosystems typical of Van Ho land. Applying sustainable farming methods helps protect the environment and ensure the health of producers and consumers.

Towards a bright future

The success of the first crop is a solid foundation for Van Ho Agritage and Kim Son Farm to continue expanding the scale of cooperation, improving production efficiency and developing the market. In the future, the project will focus on diversifying crops, developing processed products from local agricultural products, and building the Van Ho agricultural product brand.

With the efforts and determination of all parties, the cooperation model between Van Ho Agritage and Kim Son Farm will continue to bring bumper harvests, contributing to building a sustainable and developed agriculture for Van Ho land.

Master chef Christine Ha and Buot village women create dishes from local ingredients

Vân Hồ — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 17:25:23 +0000

Within the framework of her visit to Vietnam, American “Master Chef” Christine Ha visited and learned about the operating model of Van Ho Forest Field Cooperative at Van Ho Agritage Ban Buot, along with ethnic women at Chaan village. dishes from local ingredients.

Ms. Dinh Thi Huyen, female director of ethnic minorities, founder of the Northwest Development Cooperation Center and CEO of Social Enterprise Agritage Vietnam shares her startup story.

“Master Chef” Christine Ha spoke at the program.

On September 17-18, the Northwest Development Cooperation Center (TABA) coordinated with social enterprise Agritage Vietnam and the US Embassy to organize the program “Women’s startups: Challenges and opportunities”. conference in Vietnam and the United States” to discuss the role of gender in business as well as the challenges and opportunities when women are in charge.

The conference was organized with the goal of creating a space for female entrepreneurs and ethnic minority women to discuss opportunities and challenges in the process of developing their businesses. The program is inspired by the start-up story of Master Chef Christine Ha and Ms. Dinh Thi Huyen, an ethnic minority female director, founder of the Northwest Development Cooperation Center and CEO of Agritage Vietnam Social Enterprise. Male.

Speaking at the program, Mr. Adam Brocks, Deputy Cultural Attaché, US Embassy in Hanoi, said that with the bilateral relationship being upgraded from a comprehensive partnership to a comprehensive strategic partnership in During President Joe Biden’s recent visit to Vietnam, cultivating people-to-people relations was one of the key factors. “To expand cooperation as part of upgrading bilateral relations and for the benefit of the two peoples, the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi is committed to promoting the rights of members of vulnerable populations. , including women and girls, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities”, Mr. Adam Brocks emphasized.

Sharing at the program, Ms. Dinh Thi Huyen said that she herself is also an ethnic minority in Hoa Binh. Since 2011, Ms. Dinh Thi Huyen and her colleagues began to realize their dream, creating an organization where ethnic minorities can speak up and where ethnic minorities support ethnic minorities. numbers grow together. That is why the Northwest Development Cooperation Center – TABA, a Vietnamese science and technology organization with the mission of accompanying women, was born. Over the past years, TABA center has accompanied more than 10,000 ethnic minority women to develop sustainable livelihoods based on community resources.

In 2015, Ms. Dinh Thi Huyen started a social enterprise and began her story, finding a way to bring agricultural products from people in the Northwest region to Hanoi by opening clean agricultural products stores.

“However, we realized that was not the root of the problem, that’s why in 2019, we returned to the villages and found the answer: in the villages, our contribution will more effective when women in villages have jobs and income right in the locality and heritage agricultural villages are born. Van Ho Agritage is the English name of the Heritage Agricultural Village model that Agritage Vietnam, the Van Ho district government and the people of Buot village commit to preserving and developing. The heritage agricultural village is located in Van Ho district, in order to preserve the indigenous knowledge in agricultural cultivation, the food and cultural characteristics of the Thai and Muong people, residents of the cultural area. valley living in Van Ho district, Son La province”, Ms. Dinh Thi Huyen shared.

From 2019 up to now, Agritage Van Ho has accompanied 58 Thai households in Ban Buot, Chieng Yen commune, Van Ho district, Son La province to convert agricultural farming models that use chemicals to organic farming. , building agricultural product brands and bringing high quality products to the market in Hanoi. Community tourism is also developed with many forms of experiences associated with culture and nature conservation. Up to now, an organic agricultural farming area meeting PGS standards has been formed with 12 hectares of rice and nuts. Dong Rung Cooperative was established and operated to welcome tourists visiting the village. Entrepreneurship for women associated with the orientation of developing sustainable livelihoods based on community internal resources has been implemented and shown specific results for farming households working in tourism and agriculture.

“Master chef” Christine Ha cooks with the help of her husband when she cannot be seen in a strange area. Her husband is Korean-American, so she shows off her talent in cooking Korean dishes in Buot village.

The dish after completion.

“Master Chef” Christine Ha guides ethnic women in Buot village to enjoy dishes.

As an inspirational figure, Christine Ha is the first blind contestant to participate in the US “Master Chef” competition. Sharing at the conference, Christine Ha (Vietnamese name is Ha Huyen Tran) said she was born and raised in America, her parents are both Vietnamese. Christine Ha suffers from a rare disease that causes her to gradually lose her sight over time and eventually, completely lose her sight in 2007.

“Master chef” was inspired to cook by his mother. Her mother passed away when she was 14 years old, so the Vietnamese dishes that her mother used to cook for her family to enjoy are not only delicious dishes for her, but also a whole memory of her mother.

“When I lost my eyesight, I really missed the Vietnamese food my mother used to cook, and since then I have been trying to cook my own dishes. I have to rely on other senses when cooking such as taste, smell and touch,” said Christine Ha.

Within the framework of the program, “Master Chefs” Christine Ha demonstrated her skillful cooking skills using native ingredients such as ban pork, sticky rice, sticky corn… to prepare attractive dishes. .

“Master Chef” Christine Ha and her skillful cooking skills not only tell the story of overcoming her own challenges to become the champion of the world’s most prestigious cooking competition but also inspire people. Ethnic minorities, especially Thai and Muong ethnic women, pursue entrepreneurship for a better life for themselves and future generations.

According to: Thu Trang / News Newspaper
https://baotintuc.vn/van-hoa/vua-dau-bep-christine-ha-cung-phu-nu-ban-buot-sang-tao-mon-an-tu- nguyen-lieu-ban-dia-20230918221430909.htm

In community tourism, women dare to “speak up”

Vân Hồ — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 17:07:09 +0000

Community tourism associated with converting agricultural methods only really started in Chieng Yen commune, Van Ho district, Son La province from 2020 – when the national grid was pulled across the villages. Women in the villages learned to do tourism and learn chemical-free farming from scratch, and up to now, those transformations have helped them “dare to speak” and raise their voices.

Change habits

Chieng Yen commune is famous for the stream winding around Buot village. For 20 years now, the “rules” have banned fishing, anyone who violates will be fined 20kg of rice. Ms. Vi Thi Theu remembers: “Ten years ago, when we were young people, we often went to the stream bank to enjoy the cool air at night. We also had the duty of guarding and watching to see if anyone stole fish. At that time, the commune leaders had the idea of ”keeping the fish stream for later tourism”. But 4 years ago, when there was a tourism project coming to the village, to us, “travel” was still something strange and distant.”

In 2019, the Mountainous Agriculture and Forestry Research Center – ADC, the Northwest Development Cooperation Center and TABA Social Enterprise cooperated to develop the Rau non-glutinous rice value chain through the project “Promoting equality”. world through improving economic efficiency of agricultural production and tourism development” (GREAT) in Van Ho district. The project focuses on women’s economic empowerment by increasing their participation and effectiveness in the production and trading of specialty rice.

Households in Phu Mau village study organic agricultural production – PHOTO: D.H.

That year, Buot village had two landmark events at the same time: restoring the native Rau rice variety – chemical-free farming and tourism with the companionship of the Northwest Development Cooperation Center.

Buot village is a particularly difficult village of Chieng Yen commune. More than 90% of the livelihoods of Thai, Dao, and Muong people depend on agriculture, but agricultural products are not consumed stably and prices are unstable, so their lives have remained difficult for many years. The day the project was announced to the people of Buot village, most people were curious but did not dare to go against years of farming habits.

Ms. Dinh Thi Huyen – Director of the Northwest Development Cooperation Center – has committed to purchasing agricultural products for farmers. But the beginning of the journey of organic production as well as building sustainable tourism is still fraught with difficulties. The first organic Rau rice production season in Buot village, some households had a favorable harvest, some households had a poor harvest, so people did not completely trust the commitment of the Muong female director.

Only when Rau rice is purchased at a price twice as high as regular rice, can people feel secure about the chemical-free agricultural path.

As the leader of the Hoa Buoi production group, in charge of 11 households, in the early days, Ms. Theu had to go to each house to mobilize people to participate in producing Rau rice according to the project’s standards. She confided: “At first it was very difficult. We received 16 training sessions, but the people did not have production experience so the productivity was not as high as in previous seasons.

In return, input costs are very low because self-produced organic fertilizers and self-made pesticides have higher resale prices, so overall, chemical-free production is more profitable. It took a year for people to agree.”

Ms. Dinh Thi Huyen remembers: “Our people had no concept of tourism, so we had to take care of the smallest things. When traveling, the first thing is to be clean. The Icelandic project officer and I, each with a bamboo tong, carried a bucket to pick up buffalo and cow dung from all over the village. Then we instructed people to clean the outbuildings; Explain to people that they are fried eggs, but the egg dishes used in tourism services must be different from the egg dishes used in the family…”.

“When the first tourists came to the village, people did not see the effectiveness of organic production yet, so they were discouraged and wanted to give up. We encourage again, it is very difficult for everyone to attract customers to their villages and relatives, but not trying will be a waste of everyone’s efforts. So everyone gathered their spirits to move on” – Ms. Theu shared.

Tourists wrap cakes with women in Buot village – PHOTO: U.N.

The wife dared to speak up, the husband shared the work

It took a year to get used to chemical-free farming and then got caught up in the pandemic, so by 2021, the tourism activities of Buot villagers can really operate. Fortunately, the people’s agricultural products, even during the epidemic season, are still consumed by the Northwest Development Cooperation Center and TABA enterprise, so the lives of people in Buot village are more stable than other villages.

Buot village has formed 4 production groups including Hoa Buoi group, Green Tea group, Dong Xanh group and Suoi Ca group. After years of completely chemical-free production, many types of insects have now revived. “Shrimp is a species that cannot live in polluted water, but in the past 2 years, shrimp have returned, living and growing in flocks outside the ditches. Harvesting rice, harvesting vegetables, catching shrimp and fish have become one of the tourism products of Buot village. Having a source of clean food to supplement meals and serve tourism, people are very happy” – Ms. Dinh Thi Huyen was excited.

Ms. Vi Thi Theu is both the leader of the Hoa Buoi group, participating in the kitchen team, and in the performance team. Mr. Ha Van Khiem – her husband – is on the rowing team. Some other members of the village join the group to guide tourists… Every production group grows rice and green vegetables, no matter how much they produce, the Northwest Development Cooperation Center, TABA businesses and tourists consume absorb it all there.

Ms. Theu shared: “Before working in tourism and organic production, I sold groceries, farmed, and sold online, but I didn’t have access to the fields like now. There are not always many tourists, but organic products always bring high economic value to the family.” However, the greatest value that Ms. Theu received was that the voices between husband and wife in the family were balanced. She shared very truthfully: “In the past, no matter what my husband said, I didn’t “dare” to say it back. But since I had income from participating in kitchen groups and art groups, and was able to leave the commune and district to meet many people, I began to share with my husband. Our sisters even “dared” to say: “Today we will work in the kitchen to serve guests, and at night we will perform entertainment. If you are not busy, then do the housework for me.” Women can go out and have economic independence, so we women really have a voice in the family.”

The men of Buot village support women in the kitchen to serve tourists – PHOTO: U.N.

Ms. Ha Thi Duyen – a member of the kitchen team and also a member of the Green Tea team – boasted that every day there are tourists, each kitchen woman is paid from 200,000-250,000 VND. She affirmed that it was the transformation of agricultural methods that helped women in Buot village achieve gender equality more than any propaganda. “In the past, when using chemical fertilizers and pesticides, most husbands were the ones who bought the medicine and fertilizer for their wives to fertilize and spray. Women have to shoulder the burden of housework, family care and almost all the heavy work in the fields. But when they switched to using pesticides from garlic and chili, the husbands took on the task of “producing” pesticides. When using organic fertilizer, both husband and wife look for buffalo and cow manure, bring straw and leaves to compost the product. Husbands do not feel secure letting their wives do all the work, so the couple shares and discusses work in the fields” – Ms. Duyen explained.

From the success of Buot village, with funding from the International Francophone Organization, the Northwest Development Cooperation Center began implementing organic farming in Phu Mau village. Currently, training activities on organic agriculture have been deployed to 31 member households. It is expected that green tea and organic red peanuts will be two typical products of Phu Mau village. Two businesses have committed to purchasing products for people.

According to: Ngoc Minh Tam / PNO

https://www.phunuonline.com.vn/lam-du-lich-cong-dong-phu-nu-da-dam-len-tieng-a1504280.html

Developing Heritage Agriculture from Te Rau Rice

Vân Hồ — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 07:43:51 +0000

Glutinous rice is a specialty rice variety that is only grown in remote areas in the highlands. In fact, the actual planting encountered many difficulties and there was a period of time when people stopped planting.

Since 2019, when the project “Promoting gender equality through improving economic efficiency of agricultural production and tourism development” sponsored by the Australian Government was implemented in Son La, people have been trained and educated. create and continue to plant rice.

Up to now, farmers have had a bumper crop, good quality and a consumer market. Fields growing non-bearded rice have also become places to visit, exchange, and learn from experiences. From this rice variety, people started plans and strategies to develop heritage agriculture and agriculture associated with tourism, in order to retain beautiful stories about the life of the poor but colorful village.

Ban Buot – Originates the Heritage Agricultural Model

Vân Hồ — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 07:40:35 +0000

Nestled in the middle of the mountains and forests of Chieng Yen commune, Van Ho district, Son La province. There is a village of Thai ethnic people who live very peacefully with nature. We, Van Ho Agritage, have been developing a system of heritage agriculture and ecotourism with the goal of bringing clean, quality products to the market as well as allowing tourists to immerse themselves in nature and have The most authentic view of the way of life of indigenous people.