HÀ NỘI — Some 300 farmers were honoured on Tuesday for achieving excellent results in the manufacture and trade of agricultural products and for creating jobs for thousands  of labourers.  

One such farmer was Nguyễn Hữu Trí. Eight years ago, Trí decided to buy 1.7ha of land in Xuân Thọ Commune in Lâm Đồng Province’s Đà Lạt City to cultivate flowers. The Đà Lạt flowers are not only beautiful but also of a high commercial value, he said.

Hailing from southern Bình Dương Province, Trí’s knowledge was limited to cultivating rice and other short-term crops. Thus, he met the Đà Lạt City farmers to learn about their experiences and modern techniques. He spent the first year getting familiar with the normal production of flowers. From the second year, he experimented with growing lilies in nets and installed an automatic watering system in his garden. Soon, the flowers bloomed and the farming area was expanded to 4ha.

His family earned a total annual revenue of VNĐ37.5 billion (US$1.65 million) per year and VNĐ13.8 billion ($607,000) in profit. Besides this, they created employment for 35 local labourers with an average income of VNĐ5.5 million ($242) per person, per month.

Another farmer was Ngô Văn Tiêu from Nam Yang Commune in Gia Lai Province’s Đắk Đoa District. He saw an annual output of nearly 45 tonnes per year after experimenting with an Israeli water-saving technique on 15,000 pepper plants in his garden. After deducting expenses, his family earned an annual profit of VNĐ1.8 billion ($79,200).

Speaking at the event, Lại Xuân Môn, chairman of the Vietnam Farmers’ Union, said, “Over the past five years, many farmers have actively been studying and applying scientific and technical advances for high economic efficiency.”

Some 165,000 households earned a yearly income of VNĐ500 million - VNĐ1 billion (US$22,000-44,000) and over 27,000 made over VNĐ1 billion ($44,000), five times more than that seen in the 2007-2012 period, he said.

Good farming households have also generated jobs for over 11 million labourers.

Of these, more than 3.5 million farmers were provided with regular jobs and over 7 million with seasonal ones. This has helped over 200,000 farmers come out of poverty.

The function held on Tuesday also saw discussions on reviewing agricultural production and deciding on a business emulation movement for 2012-2017.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Prime Minister Trương Hòa Bình said farmers always played an important role in national construction, protecting national sovereignty and the development of the country.

He reiterated the State’s support to help boost agriculture to enrich farmers’ lives.

“The Farmers’ Association should help members with rural economic restructuring so that they can benefit from industrialisation, modernisation and international economic integration,” he said.

On this occasion, 20 farmers were given Labour Order, third class, while 69 others were presented with a Certificate of Merit in recognition of their successful agricultural production and farming. — VNS