A Soldier's Mindset Paves the Way for Aquilaria Trees

In the heroic atmosphere of the historic days of April, we followed the working delegation of the Veterans Association of Đồng Xoài Ward (Đồng Nai) to visit the economic model of Senior Colonel Dương Văn Ngọc - a veteran of the 16th Corps who is diligently awakening the value of Aquilaria trees on the red soil of the East.

Senior Colonel Dương Văn Ngọc by the Aquilaria tree garden. Photo: Trần Trung.

Leaving the military after 37 years of service, Mr. Ngọc returned with a solid economic foundation and 10 years of researching Aquilaria trees - the only woody species capable of accumulating agarwood. The courage of a soldier who once "endured hardships" at the border did not allow him to choose a life of leisure. He began a “battle” to help people fight poverty through the application of biological agarwood inoculation techniques. “I retired for a few years and felt I still had to do something. The sloping hills were not fully utilized, and the people were still poor on their own resources; it was such a waste,” Mr. Ngọc shared.

According to Mr. Ngọc, Vietnamese agarwood is associated with the formation and development of feudal dynasties, being not only a rare product but also a symbol of power, spirituality, and diplomacy. However, this industry is undergoing major fluctuations such as spontaneous, fragmented development and the situation of counterfeit goods damaging the national brand reputation. Many people once cut down Aquilaria trees, causing a break in the raw material supply chain.

Mr. Ngọc's decision to start a business in his later years faced opposition from up to 90% of his family members. However, he still managed to convince them by all means.

Locally, cashew trees have long been associated with generations of farmers. However, the increasingly degraded sloping land and price instability have put people in a difficult position. When each hectare of cashew only brings a modest income of 40 - 70 million VND/ha/year, the paradox exists that farmers have land and labor but are still struggling in a cycle of low income.

Before starting the project, Mr. Ngọc did not rush but spent a lot of time visiting and learning at agarwood "capitals" such as Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Nam, Khánh Hòa, and Đồng Nai to absorb the essence of traditional production areas. For him, doing agriculture cannot rely on intuition or luck but must be planned with a methodical and strict strategy, no different from organizing a battle.

 His model is managed and operated towards self-investment and self-management to optimize costs and improve efficiency. The entire development strategy is built in clear stages (9 - 10 year cycles) with detailed cost estimates for each production stage.

Mr. Ngọc shares the journey of awakening the "royal" tree species. Photo: Trần Trung.

The key point in Mr. Ngọc's model is the complete mastery of biological preparation inoculation technology. While in traditional cultivation, the agarwood formation process depends largely on luck and random natural impacts, with the mindset of a “practical scientist,” he has actively applied modern biological techniques to intervene in the life cycle of the Aquilaria tree, thereby stimulating the agarwood formation process with high yield and uniform quality. This is the key to optimizing productivity on the same unit area, helping to push revenue to the threshold of 200 million VND/ha, far exceeding traditional industrial crops.

From the initial 13 hectares with more than 80,000 Aquilaria trees, including 600 trees inoculated with agarwood-inducing preparations, Mr. Ngọc's model is spreading, attracting dozens of surrounding households to boldly convert old cashew gardens to planting Aquilaria.

Not stopping at raw material production, Mr. Ngọc is step-by-step completing a closed value chain from nurseries, agarwood inoculation processes, and care to investing in deep processing of products such as agarwood incense, beaded bracelets, and essential oil for export. Mr. Ngọc's goal is not only economic efficiency but also aims to bring agarwood, traditionally considered a precious product, to become a high-quality product with an affordable price that can be more widely accessible in daily life.

Aspiration to Position the National Brand

From the reality of working on Aquilaria hills, Mr. Ngọc observes that the Vietnamese agarwood industry is still struggling in a cycle of spontaneous development. Although the potential is "pure gold," the lack of a national-scale strategy makes the industry fragmented. The “four-party” link (farmer - scientist - state - enterprise) remains loose; research institutes have projects, but practical application is still far off.

Mr. Ngọc step-by-step builds a closed agarwood chain from seedlings to deep processing. Photo: Trần Trung.

“We lack a promotion and branding strategy, and leading enterprises with enough strength to build a closed value chain from seed selection to deep processing for official export,” Mr. Ngọc shared.

In addition, the problem of technical standardization has not yet been satisfactorily solved. From agarwood classification to planting and inoculation processes, most are still done based on manual experience, leading to low success rates and wasted resources. Especially, the lack of large-scale, high-quality essential oil distillation technology and barriers in origin certification procedures—since Vietnam has not registered genomes internationally—are causing Vietnamese agarwood to suffer on the global playing field.

According to Mr. Ngọc, to regain its position, the first step is to restore order in the production and business of the agarwood industry. Currently, agarwood export is mainly through unofficial channels in the form of raw materials, causing surplus value to fall into the hands of foreign partners. The situation of counterfeit goods, imitations, and price squeezing remains a painful issue, while support policies for this tree species with a long investment cycle (from 6 to 20 years) are not yet strong enough for businesses to feel secure in investing and developing.

Regarding the economic model of veteran Dương Văn Ngọc, the Chairman of the Veterans Association of Đồng Xoài Ward, Nguyễn Viết Thanh, stated that this is a breakthrough model, clearly demonstrating the courage and wisdom of a soldier in peacetime. This is not just a single farm but a nucleus for forming cooperative groups and cooperatives.

Mr. Ngọc's economic model demonstrates the courage of a soldier in peacetime. Photo: Trần Trung.

“In the coming time, the Association will continue to coordinate to organize visits and experience-sharing sessions to spread the entrepreneurial spirit and help members as well as local people utilize land potential, effectively shift crop structures, and aim for sustainable poverty reduction,” Mr. Thanh emphasized.

Parting with us as the afternoon sun turned the Aquilaria canopies golden, the veteran smiled gently: “People say I have a good life but don't know how to enjoy it. But for me, seeing the hills in Đồng Nai covered in green Aquilaria trees, seeing people earn billions on their own homeland, that is the true joy of old age.”