Success Story: From Farmer to Processor in Four Years
Mr. Nguyen Van Loc of Xuan Thanh Commune in Dong Nai Province was listening to the radio one day in 2003 when he heard a story about cocoa and Nong Lam University. Inspired by the report, Mr. Loc traveled to Ho Chi Minh City to meet the University’s cocoa team and learn more about cocoa. At the time, Mr. Loc had a 4 hectare farm of black pepper, durian, and other fruit trees.
Speaking with the cocoa team, he decided to try intercropping cocoa with his existing trees. He received enough seedlings to plant one hectare of clones and three hectares of hybrids. He became a frequent visitor at Nong Lam University attending most of the seminars and workshops on topics such as pest and disease management, fermentation, and plant propagation.
As Mr. Loc’s knowledge of cocoa increased, he began to see great potential for the cocoa industry in Vietnam and established his own company to further engage in the sector. He began by expanding his business to include a fermentary and nursery.
The fermentary business purchases ripe pods from other farmers and conducts fermentation using the techniques learned from the Cocoa Project trainings. To support the fermentary, he has two buying stations—one at his home and another in Dinh Quan District.
At the nursery, Mr. Loc produces approved clones to sell to farmers in nearby areas. Farmers pay half of the seedling price upfront and pay the remainder in cocoa beans once the trees start producing pods.
Mr. Loc’s nursery is currently the largest in Vietnam with 8,000 square meters under seedling production. In 2007, he will produce 500,000 grafted seedlings to sell to farmers in Lam Dong Province, and an additional 100,000 seedlings for other buyers.
Recently, he began renting 2 hectares of land in the industrial district of Long Khanh in Dong Province as he prepares to launch his next venture – cocoa processing.
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