The Cry of ‘Boss’ Duc: “Finding a Farm Manager is Harder than Finding a Bank Boss” – Unveiling the Thirst for Agricultural Talent

One of the key issues that Doan Nguyen Duc, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hoang Anh Gia Lai Joint Stock Company (HAGL), raised at the 2025 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders was the plan to issue 12 million shares to the Company’s employees.

HAGL emphasized that this share issuance is not just a welfare benefit but also a gesture of gratitude to the workforce that has accompanied the company through its most challenging period and a means to retain them during the upcoming development phase.

Employees Remained Loyal Despite Months of Unpaid Wages

“For HAGL, those who have followed the company for a long time know how difficult its journey has been. Since 2016, when we faced liquidity issues, it has been a strenuous struggle for the entire team to survive until today,” Mr. Duc shared.

The Chairman recalled the period between 2016 and 2017 when the company was unable to pay wages for up to five months, yet many officers persevered. According to him, this group, especially the officers at the farms, played a pivotal role in the company’s journey through adversity.

“If shareholders do not approve this proposal, I will use my own money to reward them. Without these individuals over the past decade, HAGL would not have survived,” he emphasized.

In fact, this is not the first time Mr. Duc has generously rewarded company employees, especially farm workers. In early 2023, HAGL introduced a new incentive scheme for banana workers.

In addition to a fixed salary, HAGL decided to offer a bonus of 1,200 VND/kg for any surplus yield beyond the standard output. The rationale behind this bonus, according to Mr. Duc, is that this amount covers the cumulative cost of banana grove maintenance.

“The figure of 1,200 VND/kg may seem insignificant, but when applied to tens of hectares, it can amount to hundreds of millions of dong. To illustrate, a 1-hectare banana farm can yield about 2,300 trees, equivalent to 2,300 banana bunches. For a farm manager overseeing a 50-hectare farm, this bonus could reach nearly 140 million VND/kg of surplus yield,” Mr. Duc explained at that time.

The new policy was well-received by banana farm workers, from leaders to subordinates. Some of HAGL’s banana farms also recorded a 31% increase in productivity following the implementation of this new incentive scheme.

At the 2023 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, HAGL proposed an ESOP issuance plan. However, at this year’s meeting, HAGL presented a cancellation of the previous plan and its replacement with 12 million shares.

Retaining Key Personnel in a Competitive Agricultural Industry

In addition to expressing gratitude, one of the essential reasons for HAGL’s proposal to issue bonus shares is to retain key personnel, especially given the current context of the agricultural industry’s development, attracting more investment, and the increasingly fierce competition for human resources.

HAGL will develop specific criteria for allocating bonus shares based on length of service, position, and level of dedication. Those with five to ten years of dedication will be given priority.

The plan is expected to be implemented in 2026. The total issuance value at par value is VND 120 billion, using the surplus capital stock, post-tax undistributed profits, or other funds according to the audited financial statements for 2025.

By approving this proposal, the leader of HAGL also “revealed” the current situation of “poaching” farm workers among agricultural companies.

“Finding a director for a bank or securities company in Ho Chi Minh City is not difficult. But finding a farm director is extremely challenging. They must be qualified and willing to make sacrifices by living in remote areas, far from family, and often having no means of transportation, only returning home once a year,” Mr. Duc said.

A Snapshot of Vietnam’s Agricultural Workforce

According to the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance, the total number of employed people in 2024 reached 51.9 million, an increase of 1.1% compared to 2023. Of this, the urban workforce reached 19.9 million (an increase of 831,200 people), while the rural workforce decreased to 32.0 million (a decrease of 246,100 people).

The shift of labor from rural to urban areas is becoming more pronounced, posing significant challenges for the agricultural sector and cooperative system in attracting and retaining high-quality human resources.

The proportion of degree holders in the agricultural sector increased only slightly, from 4.1% (in 2015) to 6.1% (in 2025). Meanwhile, the labor force in this sector continued to decline at an average rate of 142,200 people/year, equivalent to a 37.2% decrease during the above period.

As a consequence, the shortage of high-quality labor has become a critical issue for cooperatives and agricultural enterprises.

At the 2025 Annual Conference of the Asian Farmers’ Association (AFA) in Vietnam, a representative of the Department of Cooperative Economy and Rural Development (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment) stated that labor in agriculture is not necessarily lacking, but high-quality labor is extremely scarce.

In reality, not only in Vietnam but also in many other developed agricultural countries, this situation is prevalent. In Japan, for instance, many factories and agricultural product processing and refining lines are operating at a standstill or forced to close due to labor shortages, while the aging population continues to rise.

Mr. Norikazu Toma, Executive Director of JA Zenchu Japan, said that in the past 20 years, the number of Japanese farmers has halved to about 1.1 million, less than 1% of the total population. More worryingly, the proportion of farmers aged 65 and over has increased by 17.8% in the past two decades, accounting for up to 71.7% of the total labor force in the sector.

Similarly, in the Philippines, according to Mr. Raul Q. Montemayor, National Director of the Free Farmers Federation (FFF) and the Federation of Free Farmers Cooperatives (FFFC), the labor force in the agriculture and fisheries sector had decreased to 10.7 million by the end of 2024, accounting for only 21.3% of the total labor force…