Le Van Phan – 'the king of tangerine'

Le Van Phan (in photo), living in Tru Van Tho Commune of Bau Bang District, is a daring thinking and daring doing man, a close and very compassionate man, a good famer, and  a citrus billionaire.

The cirtrus orchard of good quallity, charming sweet, and fragrant tangerines of Le Van Phan’s is famliar to local people and merchants in many provinces and cities nationwide. They are sold not only  in Binh Duong Province but also in high land provinces and Hanoi. He has, at the present, 62 hectares of land to plant oranges, tangerines, and grapefruits at Tru Van Tho Commune of Bau Bang District, Thanh An Commune of Dau Tieng District, and Loc Hung Commune of Binh Phuoc Province. Annually, Phan shows off his earning of VND 4-6 billion yielded by 13 hectares of citrus.

“No one can succeed without experiencing failure. However, it is important to be sensitive, constantly searching and learning to master cultivation techniques. Despite high productivity, citrus is very difficult to grow,” said Phan on sharing the way to become ‘the king of tangerines’.

Substantiating his acumen, Phan retold his time after nation liberation when he had transformed fallow fields in his Long An hometown into sugar cane fields; he then became an owner at 35 and was nicknamed "Dong Bung Billionaire". However, in 1998, on realizing the downturn of sugar market, he accompanied by his friend bought a garden of 4 hectares in Tru Van Tho Commune to find new cultivation direction. After 17 years, he has expanded the 4 hectares of initially cultivated area into a farming model of over 62 hectares.

Citrus model of Le Van Phan, at the present, create jobs for 60 people excluding seasonal workers.

“My success is thanks to enthusiastic workers; therefore, I keep in mind the assurance of their living conditions. Thus, aside from wages and bonuses, I also build houses for my workers. Having large gardens, they can plant more crops, rear more chickens and pigs. I even prepare fish ponds for them to improve daily meals,” said Phan.

He not only builds houses for his workers, but also actively contributes to the local social movements such as rural road building, supporting funds for the poor, flooding prevention funds, etc. Currently, he desires to establish a citrus club for experience sharing to help many farmers with citrus model development and to emerge as legitimate richers in their homeland.

Reported by Tieu Lien – Translated by Thanh Huong