Intrigued by high-tech agriculture

(QNO) - Nguyen Quoc Phong (32 years old from Tam Hoa commune, Nui Thanh district, Quang Nam province) used to be a student of nformation technology. However, his start-up is designing vegetable garden in urban houses. He is also nourishing an ambition of high-tech farming development.

Nguyen Quoc Phong and his model of vegetable garden in urban houses.

Bold decisions

After 7 years of working in telecommunications, Phong decided to leave their work for clean farming in 2016. It was a shocking decision, and he even failed in his first model of hydroponic vegetable cultivation. However, he quickly realized that the need of safe vegetables has never been satisfied, especially in urban areas. He turned to design clean vegetable gardens in urban houses where there is usually a lack of land for cultivation. Phong’s first models were set up in his friends’ houses in Da Nang city. This special garden occupies only 2m2  and it takes 01 day to install. Till now, there have been nearly 50 models of clean vegetable garden established by Phong and his co-workers. His products is under the trademark H2O Farm. The orders for this model are more and more; so he is considering expanding his business.

Aspirations of high-tech agriculture

Phong plans to open his office and his workshop of about 600m2 in Da Nang city by the end of this year. Another office will be built in Quang Nam province in 2018. At these places, the models of high-tech farming will be presented, including hydroponics, aquaponics, and home-grown vegetables. In addition to the design, Phong also provides maintenance services and seeds. He is owning a nursery of various vegetables in Binh Giang commune, Thang Binh district, Quang Nam province.

Besides urban clean vegetable garden, H2O Farm also designs commercial hydroponic projects. According to Mr. Phong, this model is rather attractive to people throughout the country. So, he is very busy. Still, Mr. Phong always spends time for his larger ambition of clean agriculture, applying Internet Of Things (IOT) to farming. The first model of IOT will be installed in Dalat city in early 2018 with an area of 2000m2 of tomato and chili. He hopes it will be a bridge and a lever for hi-tech agricultural development in Vietnam.