Muong girl's ambition to elevate medicinal herbs

Starting a business from traditional herbal drinks

In the medicinal herb cultivation area of Happy Life Medicinal Agriculture Cooperative in Cam Thach commune, Thanh Hoa province, rows of Ehretia asperula, Solanum procumbens and Gynostemma pentaphyllum stretched under the early morning sun. Amid the vast green fields, Pham Thi Hau, Director of the cooperative, carefully inspected each plant, swiftly removing yellow leaves and gently straightening branches bent by the previous night’s rain.

Watching her move skillfully through the medicinal garden, few would imagine that the young Muong woman once had a stable job at a large company in the city. Yet whenever she returned home and sat beside the pot of herbal water her mother brewed from familiar medicinal plants grown in the garden, she felt a growing sense of concern.

Hau shared that for generations, the Muong people in the western mountainous areas of Thanh Hoa have used medicinal plants grown around their homes to maintain their health. Bundles of Ehretia asperula, passionflower and Solanum procumbens were not merely herbs, but part of daily life and indigenous knowledge passed down through many generations.

However, amid modern life, those traditional herbal remedies have gradually been forgotten. Meanwhile, traders still came to villages to buy raw medicinal materials at very low prices.

Eventually, Hau made a difficult decision: to leave the city behind and return to her hometown to begin turning local medicinal plants into high-quality, safe herbal teas that carry the flavors of the mountains to market.

In 2024, together with seven other young people who shared the same aspiration to start a business from indigenous medicinal herbs, she established the Happy Life Medicinal Agriculture Cooperative. During the early days, the cooperative faced difficulties from every direction: limited capital, lack of labor, little management experience and uncertain markets for their products.

At times, cooperative members had to carry tea products themselves to fairs and rural markets for introduction. Many customers were still unfamiliar with herbal tea, picking up the packages only to put them back down because they were unused to such products. Some days, after traveling around all day, they sold only a few small boxes. But what kept them going was their belief in the value of the medicinal plants from their homeland.

After a period of experimentation, the cooperative decided not to rely solely on traditional folk experience but instead pursue a more systematic, scientific and safe approach. To better understand the value of each medicinal plant, Hau attended traditional medicine training courses organized by the Thanh Hoa Traditional Medicine Association. She and other cooperative members also visited successful production models to learn cultivation, processing, preservation and management techniques.

To ensure the highest product quality, all medicinal herbs are cultivated organically on a nearly 5-hectare hillside. The cooperative strictly avoids growth stimulants and chemical pesticides, and uses no additives or preservatives during processing. Each planting bed is cared for with naturally composted organic fertilizer. Weeds are removed manually rather than with herbicides. Households linked to the cooperative must also commit to following the same cultivation standards before their materials are accepted for purchase.

“Herbal tea is directly related to people’s health, so we cannot do things carelessly,” Hau said.

Medicinal herbs opening the way for experiential tourism

According to Hau, one distinctive aspect of the cooperative’s development strategy is the integration of safe medicinal herb cultivation with experiential tourism. The idea first emerged after a group of friends from the city visited the cooperative’s herbal growing area one weekend.

They enjoyed walking among the lush green rows of plants, listening to explanations about the uses of each herb, harvesting medicinal leaves by hand and then drinking hot herbal tea right in the garden. The lively conversations and laughter amid the peaceful mountain setting seemed to bring even more life to the fields.

Hau also shared that the cooperative aims to build organic medicinal herb gardens combined with wellness tourism, cultural experiences and tea tasting amid the mountain landscape. This approach not only creates livelihoods for local people but also helps protect land and forests, conserve indigenous medicinal plants and preserve the traditional knowledge of ethnic minority communities. In this way, folk knowledge no longer remains only in the memories of the elderly but becomes part of a tourism product.

“If we only sell tea, the value is still limited. But when medicinal herbs are connected with cultural experiences, tourism and green lifestyles, their value can increase many times over. As consumers become more interested in health and natural products, this model offers strong potential for the future,” Hau said.

Throughout the conversation, Hau repeatedly mentioned the words “homeland.” For her, developing medicinal herbs is not simply a business. It is a way for young people to realize their aspiration of creating a new path for their villages: elevating the value of local medicinal plants and bringing mountain culture to the market through trustworthy products that are safe for consumers’ health.