The Sky-High Harvest: A Farmer’s Golden Touch Yields a Whopping $200,000 Annual Profit.

Overcoming Poverty: Tree Planting Yields Nearly 5 Billion VND

Farmer Pham Thi May from Bac Kan was honored as an “Excellent Vietnamese Farmer in 2024” thanks to her successful afforestation and timber processing model, which provides stable jobs and incomes for numerous local workers.

May shared with Dan Viet newspaper the story behind her afforestation business, which yields billions of VND in revenue. Growing up in a family with both parents working as forest workers, she has always been surrounded by lush greenery, which has shaped her resilient and persevering character.

Recalling her early entrepreneurial days, May mentioned that she and her husband started with nothing but sheer determination to escape poverty. They managed to borrow 3 million VND to buy a pair of pigs, and May also started making wine to feed the pigs with the leftover mash. At that time, their most valuable possessions were those pigs and the wine-making pot.

With the profits from selling wine and pigs, May bought a plot of forest land. She continued to reinvest the proceeds from timber sales into purchasing more forest land. Through learning from other households about afforestation and timber processing, the couple decided to invest in a wood debarking factory as they felt that merely selling timber was not maximizing their potential. By then, their forest land had expanded to 40 hectares.

After nearly 20 years of hard work and dedication, May’s wood debarking factory has been operating for a decade and continues to thrive. She shared that she has been involved in afforestation and timber processing for almost half of her life, and there has always been a steady demand for their products.

Starting with just a pair of pigs and a wine-making pot, May has built a thriving business that inspires admiration. As of now, the total investment in machinery, vehicles, and factory facilities has reached nearly 8 billion VND.

Providing Livelihood Opportunities for Local Farmers

Thanks to May’s dedication and efforts, her wood debarking factory is now operating efficiently. Additionally, she collaborates with households in her village, neighboring villages, and surrounding areas to purchase their timber.

Afforestation and timber processing have created stable jobs for over 20 local workers, providing them with monthly incomes ranging from 7 to 10 million VND.

Coming from a humble background, May’s journey to achieving an annual income of 4.8 billion VND has been marked by unwavering determination and hard work. Despite her current success, she still actively participates in physical labor, working alongside her employees regardless of the weather conditions.

In recent years, many farmers have achieved high incomes through afforestation. Similarly, Tran Duy Thuy from Quy Nhon City, Binh Dinh Province, earns billions of VND annually.

According to Nong Nghiep newspaper, Thuy has dedicated 15 years of his life to the forest industry. Despite having limited capital, he boldly invested in both forest tree nurseries and the cultivation of tens of hectares of acacia hybrids.

Today, his nearly 1.5-hectare forest tree nursery and 24-hectare forest plantation yield an annual profit of nearly 1.5 billion VND.

Sharing his journey of starting a business in the “golden” forest tree industry, Thuy revealed that to produce 2.1 million tree seedlings per year, he had to learn from practical production experiences and constantly improve his techniques in areas like grafting and seedling care.

He also automated the irrigation system in his nursery and actively participated in training courses on cutting-edge techniques like grafting and seedling care to ensure the high quality of his forest tree seedlings.

Thuy’s dedication to his work and the trust he has built with his customers have led to the wide recognition of his forest tree seedlings, which are now in high demand across many provinces and cities nationwide.