Like other residents in her village, Ms. Nhuy (63) and her family have a very hard life farming their 720 square meter plot of land. Attempting to increase their income, they tried raising livestock and poultry for a time. When disease hit the animals, her family lost all their income and investment. She and her husband became very concerned about how to have a more stable and better life.
When YWAM Mercy Vietnam partnered with local leaders to bring an Income Generation Project to her community, she became a very active participant.
When the opportunity came to join a study tour to an effective economic development model in another area, she asked her husband Mr. Hoa to join. Ms. Nhuy shared: “I wanted my husband to visit too in order to change our way of doing business. My husband is the head of our family.” This trip brought Mr. Hoa & Mrs. Nhuy to a turning point. Her husband realized the need to change direction with their family business. Impressed by the cultivation model he saw, which shifted land use from rice to fruit trees, after the study trip, Mr. Hoa decided to also change their farming model. Together they analyzed the family’s current farming work and the local market needs to consider what to raise.
Mrs. Nhuy told us: “My husband and I noticed that rice cultivation yielded 500kg of rice for and investment of about 2 million VND (about US$87) per year. The cost of cultivating rice was too much, not to mention that our family still did not have enough rice to eat. We decided to abandon rice cultivation to grow guava. The capital investment was not much, but there are regular revenues all year round.”
After three years of transforming their farming focus with sweat and effort–irrigating, pruning, weeding, harvesting, and finding markets for sale–now on their 720 square meters of cultivation land Mrs. Nhuy has planted 100 guava trees. The family’s income has greatly improved.
She shared: “After shifting to guava, my husband and I have learned more about effective cultivation techniques. In the second year, my family started to have an income of 40 million VND ($US1739) a year. In the first 4 months of 2019, my family’s income from our guava garden is already 30 million VND (US$1304). I found guava cultivation provides a good income all year round for relatively little work.”
Now, with regular income from their guava garden, her family is more stable than before. Her children regularly bring good quality guava fruits to the market in central Hanoi for selling at a better price than they can get in the village. The remaining guava harvest is sold at her local market in combination with other agricultural products she grows in her home garden to increase her family’s income.
Mrs. Nhuy is very enthusiastic to share the cultivation experiences and knowledge that she has accumulated with her neighbors. She regularly mobilizes people in her village to join the YWAM Mercy training courses for their own personal development. Her family is recognized by local authorities and local people as a good example for other residents to study and follow.