For ethnic minority communities living on the Dong Van rocky plateau in Ha Giang Province, Vietnam, life has always been shaped by the harshness of nature. With steep slopes, rocky terrain, and extreme weather, farming and earning a stable income can be incredibly difficult.
For women like Mua Thi Dinh, Deputy Head of the Ha An Thanh Ma Tung Cooperative, daily life has long been a struggle.
“The weather is extremely harsh. Life for women on the Dong Van rocky plateau is very difficult. There is very little land for us to cultivate, and many diseases affect our livestock. When winter comes, frost covers the fields, and the weather becomes freezing. Crops die, and it becomes very difficult for families to earn an income and make a living.”
For generations, people in the Dong Van highlands have relied on harvesting wild honey for their livelihoods. But collecting it often meant making dangerous journeys along rocky cliffs where wild bees build their hives in narrow crevices and cavities.
The honey itself comes from wild mint flowers that bloom only once a year along the mountain slopes, making the prized mint honey rare and valuable. Yet despite its quality, local farmers often had to sell their honey cheaply because it was marketed in bulk with little processing or packaging.
Through the APFP-FO4A program implemented by the Vietnam Farmers Union, support was provided to help local farmers transform this traditional activity into a sustainable livelihood.
The Asia-Pacific Farmers’ Program (APFP) – Farmers’ Organizations for Asia (FO4A) is implemented by the Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA) and La Via Campesina (LVC), with funding from the European Union (EU) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The program aims to strengthen the capacities of farmers’ organizations to provide economic services, advocate for enabling policies, and promote sustainable livelihoods for small-scale family farmers across Asia.
Recognizing the unique potential of mint honey from the Dong Van plateau, the program supported the development of a mint honey value chain led by the Ha An Thanh Ma Tung Cooperative. Currently, the Ha An Cooperative has 800 beehives. Each season, the cooperative harvests around 2,400 liters of honey.
Instead of relying solely on wild mint growing on cliffs, cooperative members began collecting seeds and organically cultivating mint flowers on accessible land. These mint fields now serve as a stable source of nectar for honeybee colonies. With this change, honey production became safer and more sustainable. Instead of climbing dangerous cliffs, cooperative members can now harvest honey close to their homes.
To further strengthen the cooperative’s operations, APFP-FO4A also provided equipment for honey extraction, bottling, packaging, and labeling. These improvements have helped increase the quality and market value of their products.
“The benefit of this machine is that it seals the caps tightly. It makes the bottles more secure during transportation and prevents the honey from leaking,” explains one cooperative member.
For Mua Thi Dinh, the improvements in packaging and marketing have made a clear difference.
“I really like the packaging design. Thanks to this design, I have sold many more products.”
Today, the blooming mint flower fields have also become a unique attraction on the Dong Van plateau, drawing visitors and creating additional economic opportunities for the community.
With a growing market and stronger cooperative capacity, more households are now joining the cooperative and expanding the production of this local specialty.
For women in the community, the impact has been especially meaningful.
“When women join the cooperative, they have regular work and enough income to cover household expenses, such as buying food and clothes and sending their children to school.”
Reflecting on the changes brought about through the cooperative and the APFP-FO4A initiative, Mua Thi Dinh shares:
“In the past, life was hard because nature was harsh. But when I saw that these flowers could bring income and attract many tourists to the Dong Van rocky plateau, I realized that nature has given us not only products, but also a unique local brand and new opportunities for our cooperative.”
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