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Starting a business with Thai IDO longan farming

(CTT-Đong Nai) Mr. Nguyen Minh Phuc (34-year old, lives in Ruong Lon quarter, Bao Vinh ward, Long Khanh city) confidently started planting Thailand's IDO longan trees in Long Khanh utilizing modern technology. Today, he is known as the pioneer of this model, and it has seen positive initial succeeds. 

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Mr. Nguyen Minh Phuc stands inside his IDO longan garden 

Walking his own path
Reminiscing about his beginning, Mr. Phuc said that he left his hometown in the Mekong Delta River and followed his family to Ruong Lon quarter, Bao Vinh ward when he was 11-year old. After graduating high school, he moved to Ho Chi Minh city to study graphic design, and found a job in the city. Three years later, he decided to quit because the working environment and living standards was not suitable to him. That was when he went back to Long Khanh and became a farmer.
Previously, his parents used the family's 1,4 hectares of land as a paddy field.  As “high yield low price, high price low yield" situation kept happening, his family switched to other fruit trees such as coconut, jackfruit, guava…, but they did not achieve a desirable financial success. 
When his parents handed the ownership of the garden to him, Mr. Phuc started looking for ways to improve productivity. “I was young, so I wanted to do something new and long term, not chasing trends and facing the unstable “growth and chop, chop and growth" dilemma", he said.
Remembering the times he visited his hometown, he saw local farmers planting the Thailand's IDO longan trees and achieved financial success, some farmers even got wealthier thanks to this model. That was why he chose this model as his start-up.
“All things are difficult before they are easy", even though he had prepared as best as he could, he still faced challenges. For examples, heavy rains could break the trees' branches, or even up rooted them; unusual weathers also affected the trees' fructification. 
In 2022, the first longan yield was a little more than 3 tons, and for 30.000VNĐ for a kilogram, the total revenue was around 90 million VNĐ. “At first, as I was still inexperienced, I could not handle problems caused by weather, so the yield was not as good as I had wanted. But I learned from my mistakes and applied it to later seasons", he said.

During the 2nd season, his longan garden could yield around 3,5 to 4 tons. This year longan's price also higher than last year, as merchants ready to pay 35.000VNĐ for a kilogram, so his family income is improving. “The garden's yield is usually stable after the 3rd year, with around 10 tons per hectare" Mr. Phuc shared.
Beside longan, Mr. Phuc also cultivates cantaloupe on a 1000 m2 farm following the motto “using quick term to sustain long term", as he uses the revenue from cantaloupe to invest into the longan garden. “The cantaloupe farm has been harvested 2 times, and after all of the expenses, earning around 70 million VNĐ per harvest. I am currently investing in 2 new cantaloupe farms, expand the total area to 3000 m2 in order to increase my family's income" said Mr. Phuc.
A potential model
Beside investing in farming models, Mr. Phuc also runs promotions for his products by using Zalo, and his personal Facebook. The local offices, committees and unions showed their appreciation by sharing his cost effective models to the entire community. Thanks to their efforts, his longan cultivation model become more and more popular, attracting buyers from everywhere.

His family cantaloupe farming model utilizes modern technologies, especially the power and automatic irrigation system, allowing an easier way of management and cultivating. Moreover, he follows a biological method, which means utilizing organic fertilizer to stimulate the growth of roots. As a result, the final products are clean and safe to consume.
Also according to him, the prospect of Thailand's IDO longan farming model utilizing modern technology is looking up, as the demand is always reliably stable. Therefore, his plan for the future will be investing into expanding the model to increase his family income.

MR. Nguyen Thanh Ngoc, Director of Bao Vinh ward's Farmer Association, said the Association always cared and offered opportunities for farmers who want to start new business model in the local area. Mr. Nguyen Minh Phuc is one of the farmer who deserves to be commended, since he brought back what he learned from the farmer in the Mekong Delta and utilized it in Long Khanh. The initial succeed is very positive.  
Beside observing and encouraging, the local Farmer Association also contacted the Social Policies Bank to help him get a loans up to 100 million VNĐ as capital. In the future, the Association will establish a Farmers Supporting Foundation and look for loans with low interest rate to help Mr. Phuc's longan and cantaloupe farming models becoming more cost effective. ​

Author: An Nhan

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