Nguyen Thi Hue received the 2017 Vietnam Women Award (Photo: phunuvietnam.vn)

Nguyen Thi Hue was born in 1956 in Hau Giang province. After she got married and moved to Can Tho City in 1978, Hue grew oranges and jackfruits on a 3,000

square meter farm using chemical fertilizer and preservatives, but it was not very profitable due to soil degradation.  In 2010, Hue switched to growing seedless lemons. In 2 years, her family has escaped poverty. Ms. Dang Thi Thu of Truong Long commune, said: “Hue was the first to grow seedless lemons and was very successful. She shared the idea with other local women, and now the lemon cooperative is booming”.

With the support of the Women’s Union, Hue and other local women expanded their lemon trees to 5 hectares. After finding an outlet at supermarkets, in 2015 the group became a cooperative of 24 members, cultivating 12 hectares for both domestic consumption and export: “We guarantee safe, high-quality and fresh produce. Our lemons are exported at a stable price”.

Hue did a lot of research and applied technology to produce organic lemons. Le Van Anh, Deputy Chief administrator of Truong Long commune, said many local farmers have followed Hue’s method, and are moving toward a collective economic model: “The successful lemon cooperative has changed local farmers’ mindset and created momentum for the establishment of a star apple cooperative in 2015. As a new-style rural commune, we encourage new cooperative models”.