The young girl also plans to build a clean agricultural model in the future associated with tourism development, helping people gradually develop the economy, eliminate hunger, reduce poverty and get rich right on their homeland.

Hai Duong girl passionate about telling stories about mountains and forests

Pham Thi Phuong Mai was born and raised in Hai Duong, graduated from Vietnam Studies, majoring in Tour Guide. She then married a Northwestern man in Trinh Tuong commune, Bat Xat district (Lao Cai).

Previously, Mai did volunteer work with her husband, helping people in the highlands with difficult circumstances. This work allowed her to travel to villages and meet people from different ethnic groups.

“I see that people in the highlands have a lot of delicious and clean agricultural products, but they always work hard, produce good agricultural products but have no output. They always depend on and wait for traders to come and buy.

“If the harvest is good, the price will be low, if the price is good, the harvest will be bad. Or people only bring agricultural products to traditional markets to sell to local people, but the sales volume is very small. Meanwhile, I see that people's demand for clean agricultural products is increasing,” Mai said.

From that thought, the 9x girl always had the desire to bring local agricultural products to consumers across the country, helping people in Bat Xat district have stable agricultural output, have better income to improve their lives.

Also stemming from the reality that in 2021, people in the commune had to dump hundreds of tons of ginseng, traffic conditions were difficult, people had to carry ginseng from the fields, and in the end, traders did not come to buy, and the ginseng rotted.

After a year of being broke and having no income, Mai struggled many nights to figure out how to help people sell their agricultural products so that they would suffer less.

With that determination, from November 2022, when the locality enters the ginseng harvest season, the MAI TAY BAC Tiktok channel and MAI TAY BAC Facebook Fanpage were born.

Through her work, Mai reaches out to viewers across the country to promote agricultural products, the lives of indigenous people, and at the same time introduces local agricultural products, sells agricultural products through the MAI TÂY BỒC Tiktok Channel with 317.9k Followers and the MAI TÂY BỒC Facebook Fanpage with 75,574k likes.

With a pretty face, fair skin, and a sincere, friendly, yet charming way of speaking, Mai’s self-made short videos have attracted a lot of viewers. With instructions on how to cook, on life philosophy, introducing local agricultural products, and on highland markets, etc.

In particular, viewers can also "feast their eyes" on delicious dishes made by the channel owner himself, such as: videos introducing wild honey, how to prepare black pork, pickled bamboo shoots, pickled water spinach, picking and eating wild fruits, young jackfruit stewed with meat, grilled fish with garlic and chili, or introducing the cinnamon growing profession of the ethnic people, videos about the sounds of the mountains and forests with ethnic dishes... to help viewers visualize the beauty as well as the cultural customs of the people in the highlands of Lao Cai.

Spreading the digital farmers

Currently, wild honey, black pork fat, ginseng, vermicelli, and mustard seeds are the products Mai sells year-round to consumers nationwide, along with local seasonal agricultural products. The videos selling agricultural products reflect the simple beauty of the mountainous villages of Lao Cai.

Besides the daily work of farmers, there are many hardships and fatigue, but Mai always knows how to convey positive energy to viewers by telling engaging stories and a constant smile on her lips, attracting millions of viewers.

In addition, she also proactively cooperates with cooperatives with OCOP products to post products on social networks to enhance reputation, product quality, and expand the consumption market.

Mai also often guides young people in the commune and district on how to sell online, make product promotion videos, and train people on basic filming and editing techniques, so that there will be more and more local sales channels, bringing agricultural products and local specialties to people across the country.

“I don’t have any secret to attract people, but I appreciate honesty and simplicity. Everything must be real, not flashy or fancy. I am lucky to be loved and supported by the audience, who order agricultural products and give positive feedback. This job also creates more livelihoods for people, contributes to increasing income and stabilizing the family economy,” Mai shared.

In the future, Mai plans to expand the market and create her own brand for local agricultural products. Currently, she and her fellow villagers continue to grow local agricultural products and raise black pigs and black chickens to diversify the product source and meet the demand for the market.

Article and photos : Tam Tam