Where every vegetable plot has its own haystack

Farmers in their 70s and 80s still follow modern techniques

Both in their seventies, Hoang Van Doan and his wife from Hamlet 11 (Phung Nguyen commune, Phu Tho province) still work tirelessly in their vegetable fields. They spend nearly every day side by side tending neat rows of crops.

Doan recalled that both his parents' generation and his own had grown vegetables using traditional methods, applying fertilizers and pesticides without clear guidelines. Some seasons were successful, others were complete failures, not to mention farmers had to find their own markets.

Everything changed after the couple joined the Tu Xa Safe Vegetable Cooperative 11 years ago. They received training in safe vegetable production under VietGAP standards and gradually adopted more sustainable farming practices.

After every harvest, the couple sterilizes the soil by spreading lime and covering the beds with plastic sheets for about a week to eliminate soil-borne diseases and weed seeds.

Once the soil treatment is complete, they sow vegetable seeds and spread a layer of straw over the beds to retain moisture. Without straw, seedlings can take five or six days to emerge during hot weather. With straw mulch, they sprout in just three days. As the straw decomposes, it also becomes organic matter that improves soil structure and fertility.

Straw is highly valuable to vegetable growers and readily available in Phung Nguyen commune. After nearby farmers harvest their rice, cooperative members collect the leftover straw, dry it, and stack it beside their fields for future use.

The couple mainly applies composted chicken manure aged for a year to reduce its heat and salinity, spreading several dozen kilograms per sao (Vietnamese unit, equivalent to 360 square meters), along with 10 kilograms of Lam Thao NPK 5-10-3 fertilizer. Their vegetable plots are equipped with overhead netting that shields crops from heavy rain and prevents physical damage.

From just over two sao of vegetables, the couple earns around VND 40 million in annual profit, enough to support themselves without relying on their children.

In the neighboring field, 62-year-old Ngo Thi Bach is busy weeding rows of malabar spinach. Unlike the Doan couple, she does not use protective netting, but she faithfully follows the cooperative's recommended practices, including soil treatment and straw mulching. Since malabar spinach continuously produces new shoots after each harvest, a single planting can be harvested for several months before replanting.

She combines roughly 80% composted chicken manure with 20% Lam Thao NPK 5-10-3 fertilizer, maintaining soil health while providing sufficient nutrients for vigorous crop growth.

From three sao of vegetables, she and her husband earn more than VND 50 million annually, while their eight sao of rice provide food and livestock feed. Since her own rice fields do not produce enough straw to mulch the vegetables, she also collects straw from other places after each harvest season. She only feels truly ready to sow a new crop once the tall straw stacks are in place along the field edges.

The oldest grower in the cooperative is 76-year-old Nguyen Thi Thinh, who still cultivates five sao of vegetables almost entirely by herself, hiring extra labor only during the busiest periods.

"I never skip soil treatment and straw mulching after each crop. Without them, the soil becomes exhausted, and vegetables grow poorly. During soil treatment, I also make organic compost from leftover vegetable stems, diseased leaves, old foliage, and discarded fruit. From my five sao of vegetables, I earn VND 40-50 million each year," she said.

Leaving the teaching career behind to grow vegetables

Nguyen Van Nghia, Director of Tu Xa Safe Vegetable Cooperative, said that after graduating with a degree in biotechnology, he returned to his hometown to open a university entrance exam preparation center.

While continuing his teaching career since 2013, he also established a mushroom production facility. Customers who frequently bought mushrooms asked whether he could also supply safe vegetables. At the time, the old Tu Xa commune had no certified safe vegetable producers. Farmers mainly cultivated two rice crops a year, leaving their land idle during the winter season.

Seeing the opportunity, Nghia founded Tu Xa Safe Vegetable Cooperative in 2015 and began training local farmers in safe vegetable production. By 2017, the cooperative had started supplying supermarkets. That same year, realizing he could no longer balance teaching and farming, he decided to close the exam preparation center and devote himself entirely to agriculture.

From just over 20 founding members, the cooperative has expanded to nearly 100 members and affiliated households, cultivating more than 20 hectares of vegetables.

"Getting safe vegetable production to where it is today required farmers to attend many training courses. In the early days, some members made mistakes by using pesticides incorrectly. Whenever the cooperative discovered such violations during inspections, the crops were destroyed immediately. Now, after more than ten years of operation, we have not experienced any pesticide misuse incidents," Nghia said.

After touring the production fields, we arrive at the cooperative's packing facility at the entrance to the growing area. Dozens of workers are busy weighing, packing, labeling, and loading vegetables onto trucks bound for Hanoi, ensuring the produce reaches supermarket shelves the following morning.

Today, the cooperative mainly supplies supermarkets, along with institutional kitchens and schools. It generates annual revenue of approximately VND 14 billion. For Nghia, however, the greatest satisfaction comes not from sales or profits, but from providing safe vegetables for the wider community.

$ 1 = VND 26,470. Source: Vietcombank.