(VOVworld) - Farmers in the Central Highlands city of Da Lat are busy tending flowers for the coming Lunar New Year Festival or Tet. When night falls, millions of electric lights are switched on to stimulate the flower to grow and bloom on time. A number of farmers live constantly in their flower greenhouses. VOV’s Personality of the week profiles Vu Nhuan, one of the farmers becoming better off from growing flowers. Nhuan has helped others in Ha Dong village apply technology to flower cultivation.
Nhuan’s house is surrounded by a pink rose fence. Inside the house, he displays various kinds of flowers of different colors. Nhuan says these are sample flowers that he is growing to check their durability. Nhuan says his life is attached to floriculture and he thinks about it even in his dreams. His ambition is, with the same investment as for the traditional planting method, to earn a profit 4 to 5 times higher.
“I’m the first farmer here to apply technology to floriculture. In 1992 I was the first to pilot growing greenhouse flowers. Other farmers saw the results and followed suit. They began to grow cross-bred flower varieties in 2000. We now have 40 hectares of farm to grow chrysanthemums. We earn approximately 15,000 USD on 1,000 square meters a year. We can afford our children’s school fees, build houses, and purchasing house facilities home furnishings,” says Nhuan.
Ha Dong flower village was founded in 1938 by emigrants from Quang Ba, Nghi Tam, Tay Tuu, and Ngoc Ha flower villages on the outskirts of Hanoi. After 75 years, Ha Dong flower village has built its own trademark. Vu Nhuan says: “In Da Lat, Ha Dong chrysanthemums are the best. Flower traders say that of the many kinds of chrysanthemums in Da Lat, the “one stem-one flower chrysanthemum of Ha Dong is the most beautiful.”
It wasn’t easy for farmers from Hanoi to develop a flower village in Da Lat. Vu Nhuan studied the characters of different kinds of flowers including chrysanthemums. Ha Dong chrysanthemums are sold in Da Lat, Ho Chi Minh city, and neighboring localities. The farmers are no longer worried about finding an outlet, but they have not been happy with the profit. Vu Nhuan said he is seeking new outlets. “There are problems - insects, fungus, land, fertilizers, and technology. I’m thinking of introducing some technological know-how to the farmers. We need to produce flowers of the same quality for export. We can ship a small quantity for export but can’t supply a large quantity every week. This has limited our output. I’ll offer technical support to any one who needs it.”
Nhuan has as much equipment as any big flower research lab. He has volunteered to help other villagers. Tran Van Hung, a floriculturist in Ha Dong village, says: “When my flowers have diseases, I ask Nhuan for help. Fungus has been reduced and productivity has increased. If the trees grow well to produce beautiful blossoms, we earn higher profit. With Nhuan’s support of new medicine and new technology, we have produced more beautiful flowers and sold them at higher prices.”
Nhuan is busy not only with his garden, but also working with other farmers to prepare flowers for Tet. He is nurturing a plan to export Ha Dong flowers to Japan and Thailand.