With the knowledge and experience gained after 10 years of working abroad under contract at modern hydroponic vegetable farms in Malaysia, Mr. Ho Van Thong (40 years old), in Don Que village, Hai Que commune, Hai Lang district, Quang Tri province, returned to his hometown and determined to start a business to get rich with this model. After nearly 1 year of implementation, Mr. Thong's hydroponic vegetable growing model has initially brought quite high economic efficiency and has many prospects.

Mr. Thong introduces a type of hydroponic vegetable in his model - Photo: D.V

In a spacious plot of land in Don Que village, since the beginning of 2024, Mr. Thong has invested about 150 million VND to build an initial closed vegetable garden with an area of ​​about 300 m2. The vegetable garden includes a greenhouse, a system of hydroponic vegetable growing pipes, electric motors for automatic irrigation... After a period of establishment, Mr. Thong's hydroponic vegetable growing model has initially produced stably.

Rows of lush vegetables with many varieties create a vibrant green color in this purely agricultural countryside. Mr. Thong said that with a lot of experience and knowledge learned during the process of working with hydroponic vegetables on a large, modern farm in Malaysia, he was able to easily build his own vegetable garden.

“After many years of working abroad, I decided to return home to start a business with a hydroponic vegetable growing model. The initial effectiveness of the model gave me the confidence to continue developing it,” said Mr. Thong.

Different from traditional vegetable growing, Mr. Thong grows vegetables using Israeli technology with the recirculating hydroponic method (also known as dynamic hydroponics). This vegetable growing model is designed with a system of containers and hydroponic pipes. Hydroponic nutrients will be pumped evenly from the solution tank to all the pipes to supply the vegetables to grow, the remaining amount will be circulated back to the original container.

Grasping the local consumption needs, Mr. Thong currently grows some popular vegetables such as: Korean cabbage, Chinese cabbage, Chinese broccoli, sweet cabbage, spicy cabbage, lettuce and some spices. The vegetable growing process is completely closed and can be harvested after about 1 month. Vegetables grown by hydroponics are guaranteed to be clean because no pesticides are used and there are very few pests.

Mr. Thong said that so far, he has sold 6 batches of vegetables, each batch after deducting expenses has a profit of 4 - 5.5 million VND. Hydroponic vegetables grown in greenhouses are almost independent of the weather, can be grown all year round. Mr. Thong's vegetable garden is planted in alternating batches so vegetables are sold continuously. The current output market is stable, vegetables are consumed quite well.

“The demand for hydroponic vegetables is still quite large, especially in collective kitchens, schools, and food services... I plan to continue to double the scale in the near future to improve economic efficiency. However, due to the large investment costs required for the greenhouse system and equipment, I hope to receive “support” in terms of capital,” Mr. Thong shared.

Visiting the model, Chairman of Hai Que Commune Farmers' Association Nguyen Van Hoa assessed that this is a new and promising model in the locality. "Mr. Thong's hydroponic vegetable model has been invested in thoroughly, and he has a lot of knowledge and experience in farming, so the products are of guaranteed quality.

Even more joyful is that the output of hydroponic vegetables from this model is stable, the product price is reasonable, and is gradually being favored by consumers. We hope that in the coming time, the departments, branches, and farmers' associations at higher levels will pay attention to creating favorable conditions for preferential capital to help the model expand its scale and develop more sustainably," said Mr. Hoa.

Hieu Giang