Giàng A Nủ (left) in his passion fruit orchard in Dền Thàng B Village in Phong Thổ District in the northern mountain province of Lai Châu.—VNA/VNS Photo Nguyễn Oanh

LAI CHÂU — Giàng A Chứ, a Mông ethnic man who was born and raised in the mountainous province of Lai Châu, has always harboured dreams of becoming wealthy at home rather than elsewhere.

After completing ninth grade in 2009 he worked as a construction worker in various provinces and cities, doing unstable but precarious work.

One day he decided to return to his hometown of Leng Chư Village in Phong Thổ District’s Dào San Commune and start his own business.

In 2020 his older brother gave him some strawberry seedlings to plant.

Chứ found it easy to grow and tend, and the local climate suited the fruit.

Strawberries grow rapidly, bear juicy and nutritious fruits, and fetch high prices.

He decided to trial it for one year and, if successful, expand the cultivation area.

The entire cultivation area was his family’s barren terraced land. Due to a dearth of irrigation water, his family would only cultivate one crop and leave it barren until the next crop.

With perseverance and diligence, he cultivated various crops, but none was successful, and he decided to grow strawberries.

He says when he first grew it he had no knowledge of how to plant or care for it. He learnt on the go and did some online research to gradually discover how to grow and tend strawberries.

To ensure their good growth and development, high beds were needed; the plants needed to be watered properly; the leaves needed to be pruned to help the plants concentrate on fruiting; and the soil around the base of the plants had to be covered by plastic bags to keep it moist and create a barrier between the fruit and the soil, thus reducing damage from pests and diseases.

The passion of youth and their lack of fear have helped Chứ turn the barren terraced fields into well-maintained strawberry gardens, yielding fruits and putting him on the path to self-establishment and entrepreneurship.

He invested over VNĐ150 million (US$6,110) in an irrigation system.

In the very first harvest, the orchard yielded high-quality fruits that fetched VNĐ100,000-120,000 ($4-5) per kilogramme, earning his family over VNĐ10 million ($407).

The initial success motivated him to expand the cultivation area.

In 2022 he decided to expand the strawberry cultivation area to 500sq.m, and earned over VNĐ60 million ($2,440).

Last year he further expanded it to 800 sq.m, and earned over VNĐ300 million ($12,200).

Meanwhile, his family's rice fields still yield only one crop per year, producing seven to nine tonnes of rice, ensuring food for his whole family.

At the beginning of this year's crop his strawberry garden averaged a daily income of VNĐ6 million ($244) due to unexpected fertility.

Taking advantage of the flowering of the strawberries, he also started raising bees for honey, further increasing his income.

Now the strawberries are in their peak season.

Ripe, juicy strawberries in the middle of the mountainous landscape attract many tourists who come to admire and pick the fruit.

But sometimes Chứ just cannot meet the demand from visitors to buy.

Besides enriching him, his orchard also provides steady employment to six workers.

Lý Thị Mẩy says she has been working for Chứ for six months, earning VNĐ4 million ($162) a month.

Chứ is one of many young ethnic people in the province to develop efficient economic models, thus spreading the spirit of entrepreneurship.

Giàng A Nủ's passion fruit cultivation in Dền Thàng B Village, Dào San Commune, Phong Thổ District, over the last two years starting with an initial two hectares has shown promising results.

He says he was taken to see a passion fruit cultivation model in the province’s Tam Đường District by the commune Youth Union and Agricultural Service Centre.

He found it to be a good and effective model that could be applied locally, and decided to take the plunge.

After trialling it and finding out that passion fruit grows well in the local climate, he grew the fruit on two hectares.

He got a loan of VNĐ70 million ($2,850) from the Social Policy Bank while the Youth Union gave him the seedlings for free.

Then he actively researched and learned cultivation and care techniques from social media and began to apply them.

After the first harvest, he increased his efficiency in growing crops compared to cultivating corn and cassava.

This year his family plans to add an additional two hectares of passion fruit orchards.

Tháo A Páo, secretary of the commune Youth Union, says the locality has many successful youth entrepreneurs involved in community tourism, growing strawberries and passion fruit and raising deer.

The Youth Union always helps young people get bank loans, he says.

It also actively promotes and organises visits and meetings for union members and other young people to learn from successful entrepreneurs to spread the entrepreneurial spirit.

The province has nearly 113,000 young adults, 98,000 of them from ethnic groups.

The province Youth Union helps young people with entrepreneurship, career establishment and economic advancement through movements such as "Lai Châu youth building new-style rural area together," "Creative youth" and "Accompanying youth in start-ups and establishing careers."

It has supported 40 projects carried out by young people, received over VNĐ920 billion ($37.5 million) from the Social Policy Bank to support young people with entrepreneurship, organised training courses for 2,260 union members and other youths, provided career guidance to nearly 83,000, and introduced jobs to over 26,000. — VNS