A movement to promote the proactive engagement of women in the study, creative labour and building prosperous and happy families is spreading more and more widely in the local women’s unions in Hoa Binh, attracting a large number of women. Bui Thi Xiem, Director of Thien Loi An medicinal herbs cooperative in Kim Boi commune, Kim Boi district, emerges as one of typical examples in implementing the movement.
Bui Thi Xiem (R), Director of the Thien Loi An medicinal herbs cooperative in Kim Boi commune, Kim Boi district, is a typical example in a movement to promote women’s startups and creative labour.
Xiem decided to establish the cooperative in 2020 to connect production and bring medicinal herbs to the market nationwide. Since its establishment, the cooperative averagely supplies nearly 10,000 medicinal herbs of all kinds to the market a year.
She said her family has been practicing traditional herbal medicine for a long time, regularly purchasing medicinal herbs from local people, so she understands the characteristics of herbal medicines. The formation of the cooperative is expected to create stable jobs for rural labourers and contribute to conserving rare medicinal plants.
So far, the cooperative has offered many products in the market, including Homalomena aromatica jelly, Celastrus approximatus Craib jelly, Solanum procumbens jelly, and Panax Notoginseng jelly. To achieve success, Xiem has gone through many difficulties and challenges, requiring her to be determined, learn, and gain experience to create a unique feature for her products.
The cooperative has cooperated with 16 households to grow medicinal plants with a total area of 5 ha, serving processing and production activities. Many households in Kim Boi commune have had additional income from growing medicinal plants.
The cooperative's annual revenue reaches over 500 million VND (nearly 19,700 USD), creating regular jobs for six workers with a monthly income of 5 - 6 million VND each; and over 40 part-time labourers.
Chairwoman of the women's union of Kim Boi commune Bui Thi Trang said Xiem is an active member in the women's movement, and an exemplary figure in exploring, starting a business, and effectively developing household economics in the locality.
With her idea to process medicinal herbs has initially produced positive results, utilising the available medicinal resources of the locality, while preserving traditional remedies, and creating stable income for her family.
Xiem aims to develop Homalomena aromatica cream product into an OCOP (One Commune, One Product) item in 2024. She also plans to enhance the promotion and introduction of her products through e-commerce channels to access more consumers.
Dao Village’s honey – a product certified with a 3-star OCOP (One Commune One Product) rating by Thong Nhat Agricultural Cooperative in Dao Village (Hoa Binh City) – is highly regarded by consumers for its quality, richness, and variety in packaging. The distinctively sweet taste of Dao Village’s honey leaves a lasting impression on anyone who has tried it.
In alignment with Project No. 07-DA/TU, issued by the Hoa Binh provincial Party Committee on November 1, 2021, Lac Thuy district has actively promoted investment and supported the sustainable development of its industrial and handicraft sectors during the 2021–2025 period. Alongside this, the district has remained committed to preserving and revitalising traditional craft villages.
Located in the northern part of Lac Thuy district, with a temperate climate and fertile soil, Phu Thanh commune has great potential and advantages in growing tea. The long-standing experience, combined with strict adherence to organic farming practices in the tea gardens, ensures that the dried tea products from Phu Thanh and Lac Thuy as a whole are sold out immediately upon production, providing a stable and prosperous life for the local people.
Amid efforts to streamline the administrative apparatus, Hoa Binh province has intensified measures to address challenges in land clearance, resettlement support, and infrastructure investment, aiming to speed up the progress of key projects.
Hoa Binh province has posted an unprecedented economic growth rate of 12.76% in the first quarter of 2025, marking its highest quarterly performance to date and positioning it as the second fastest-growing locality in the country, trailing only Bac Giang province.
Under current regulations, products in the One Commune – One Product (OCOP) programme that are rated three stars or higher must undergo re-evaluation every three months. However, in reality, some of these products fail to consistently meet the required standards, raising concerns about the sustainability of their OCOP certification. This underscores the urgent need for producers to enhance product quality and gradually develop their OCOP products into strong, marketable brands.
