The ‘school in farm, farm in school’ strategies of Unifarm in Binh Duong

A pioneer in hi-tech agriculture

Binh Duong is famous not only as an industrial hub but also as the “capital” of high technology agriculture with the most modern and large-scale farming areas in the country. In particular, U&I Agriculture Corporation (Unifarm) gathers the wisdom and enthusiasm of a team of engineers, along with the effective combination of four parties (state, businesses, scientists and farmers), to create many agro-products of international stature.

Located in An Thai commune (Phu Giao district) with an area of over 400 ha, Unifarm’s farm is a hi-tech banana and cantaloupe production area in Binh Duong. Applying the EU-standard planting procedure, every year the 300 ha of bananas at Unifarm yield nearly 50 tons/ha. After harvesting, the product goes through preliminary processing, packaging, preservation and export to ensure product quality according to international standards.

As for the 100 ha of cantaloupe, Unifarm’s cantaloupe growing procedure applies Israeli technology, with temperature and humidity control systems. The irrigation systems at greenhouses are connected to the central control system. The media used to grow cantaloupe is thoroughly treated with pathogens potentially harmful to plants.

Every year the cantaloupe growing model at Unifarm generates a revenue of more than VND 2 billion/ha and the Cavendish banana growing model for export generates a revenue of VND 500 million/ha. Thanks to the application of science to production, Unifarm’s branded products are becoming more and more popular with consumers at present.

Searching high and low for human resources

Pham Quoc Liem, Chief Executive Officer at Unifarm could not hide his pride in sharing the business’ achievements as well as the interwoven old and new farming mindset. He also mentioned difficulties in finding and training human resources to achieve expectations, particularly when Binh Duong People's Committee allocated land to transform an agricultural area in An Thai into a model hi-tech agricultural park.

At first, regarding the workforce, from leaders to engineers, the company only had 10 people. To supplement human resources in accordance with the development strategy, the members of Unifarm had to go to universities to recruit, but the results were not as expected.

Unifarm's working environment is mainly about exchanging with foreign experts, so the company set three criteria for recruitment: First, you must be fluent in English, second, you must have a love for agriculture and work hard in the fields, and finally, a university degree majoring in agriculture.

"However, when I was looking for human resources, I went to survey and work with a number of universities specializing in agricultural training, only to find the sad reality: The communication skill of most Vietnamese students at that point of time was limited, the ability to communicate in English is almost zero.

“In some other specialized training schools, students who have English communication skills, presentation skills, and teamwork skills which met the requirements to work with foreigners all said that agriculture was too much of an arduous work and they did not understand anything about agriculture,” the Unifarm CEO said.

Hiring foreign experts, utilizing the "school in farm" strategy

Facing such hurdles, Unifarm has decided to go to some other countries that had modern agricultural production models, with climate and soil conditions similar to Binh Duong to learn and transfer scientific advances while retraining human resources. This is the stepping stone for the establishment of the “school in farm” strategy.

Employing foreign experts is considered a bold move for Unifarm. Although foreign experts require a very high salary, it is “worth every penny”. The experience and knowledge of leading experts from countries with more advanced agriculture than Vietnam create the basis for nurturing the seeds of high-quality human resources at Unifarm today.

On the path of development, Unifarm realizes that hi-tech agroproduction is not only about science and technology, but folk experience was also a secret worth learning. Hieu Liem commune (Bac Tan Uyen district Binh Duong) is famous for having old farmers who possess vast knowledge in growing off-season fruit trees. Unifarm has offered very commensurate incentives in exchange for these valuable experiences.

Unifarm is currently pursuing the knowledge tourism model, which the company has implemented throughout the years. Unifarm's point of view is to not make money from tourism, but to consider tourism as an environment for the young generation to increase their interest in agriculture, thereby motivating them to learn and experience to preserve and promote the value of Vietnamese agriculture and its agro-products.

In order to have a sufficient workforce to support affiliate partners, Unifarm implements the "farm in school" strategy along with the "school in farm" strategy. Unifarm is collaborating with institutes and schools, including Binh Duong Agriculture - Forestry Intermediate School, to provide specialized training on growing tissue-cultured bananas.

“Schools have available facilities, enrollment is done professionally, and the teaching staff is skilled. On the other hand, Unifarm has practical production experience and high recruitment demand. With the cooperation of Unifarm and schools, students will be fully equipped with the knowledge and can work immediately after graduation without wasting time on retraining, thus solving the problem of staff shortage for Unifarm.

“Even if graduates don't work at Unifarm, they can help Unifarm partners or their families to work with Unifarm to grow banana trees. But Unifarm alone cannot implement this training strategy efficiently. We need the cooperation of the state and the community," said CEO Pham Quoc Liem.