In Buong village of Nghia Giang commune, Quang Ngai province in central Vietnam, 35-year-old Tang Long Quy is reviving, on a community basis, a sericulture industry that had almost died out in the area. Quy leads a sericulture group of 12 households (5 of them youth-led), running mulberry cultivation and silkworm rearing in an integrated way. Operating at the high pace of about 15 days per cycle and up to 10 cycles a year, he secures a net profit of about 10 million Vietnamese dong (about US$380, about ¥58,000 in Japanese yen) from one to two boxes of silkworm eggs per cycle. On an annual basis, that is earnings on the scale of 100 million Vietnamese dong (about US$3,800, about ¥580,000), and it has begun to draw attention in the area as a practical income source.
1. The source news: young people restart a nearly vanished traditional industry
In May 2026, Asia News Network (distributed by the former Vietnam News) reported a case in Quang Ngai province where a young generation is setting out to revive a traditional industry that had once died out. The one introduced as the leading figure is Quy. He says, 'I want visitors, including children, to touch mulberry leaves, feed the silkworms, and see the moment the cocoons are spun. It is not only economics but education that conveys heritage value,' clearly showing a stance of reconstructing the tradition not as mere retail but as experiential agriculture.
Quy's family also attempted to enter sericulture in 2002 but was derailed by a lack of funds and technical knowledge. About 20 years on, the retry is on track, underpinned by the local Youth Union's entrepreneur-support program and training in market linkage and online sales.
2. Background: Buong village's sericulture history and 20 blank years
Buong village in Quang Ngai province was historically a sericulture cluster, but production had died out due to the spread of synthetic fibers, instability in raw-material markets, and the outflow of young people to cities. What Quy made the key to revival was improving the mulberry gardens and switching to 'floor rearing.' The conventional multi-tier bamboo racks were cheap in equipment cost but were a structure in which feeding, cleaning, and cocoon collection were all mainly by hand, requiring extreme labor.
Quy switched to a method of laying wooden trays on the floor, cutting labor input by about 50%. At the same time, the uniformity of cocoon size improved, and quality meeting export standards now comes out steadily. It is a pragmatic approach characteristic of central Vietnam, going after savings in capital investment and quality improvement at the same time.
3. The restarted sericulture, seen in numbers
| Item | Figure | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Days per cycle | About 15 days | Centered on the larval period |
| Cycles per year | Up to 10 times | Depends on mulberry-leaf supply and climate |
| Input per cycle | 1 to 2 boxes of silkworm eggs | |
| Net profit per cycle | About 10 million VND | About US$380 / about ¥58,000 |
| Estimated annual income | About 100 million VND | About US$3,800 / about ¥580,000 |
| Labor reduction | About 50% | Through the switch to floor rearing |
| Participating households | 12 households | 5 of them youth-led |
| Supporting body | Provincial Youth Union | Training in entrepreneurship, sales channels, and e-commerce |
Crops that can secure a gross profit exceeding the equivalent of ¥10,000 in a 15-day cycle are not many in central Vietnam, and there is the advantage that if the mulberry garden keeps turning, the cash-conversion cycle is also fast. On the other hand, operating 10 cycles a year is an upper limit achieved only when climate, mulberry-leaf supply, and silkworm-egg quality all align; for stable operation, temperature and humidity control at the rearing site, measures against mulberry replant failure, and securing a silkworm-egg supplier remain as challenges.
4. Voices of those involved
Quy himself told local media, 'It is not only economics. Teaching the value of cultural heritage to the next generation is what sericulture means to me.' He also has in view an experiential program that welcomes tourists and local children, apparently aiming to turn Buong village into a 'sericulture hamlet where you can learn.'
The Quang Ngai Province Youth Union positions this business as a support target and provides entrepreneur training, market linkage, and online-sales skills training. According to the person in charge, the view is that the youth-led community model can become a template that can be rolled out to other industries within the province.
From veteran local farmers, drawing on the experience of the setback 20 years ago, comes the assessment that 'what is different this time is that it holds technology and sales channels at the same time.' With the news of a chili-price crash also fresh in memory in Quang Ngai, the sericulture revival is received as a diversification move to escape the monoculture risk of a specific item.
5. Impact on Japan's agriculture industry and OEM buyers
Seen from Japan's food-OEM and agritourism stakeholders, this case shows that the groundwork for 'mulberry fruit,' 'silk powder,' 'silk cosmetic ingredients,' and 'sericulture-experience tourism' remains in central Vietnam. It has been a long time since sericulture areas shrank within Japan, and the pattern of relying on Southeast Asia for a stable supply of mulberry-derived materials is strengthening. If quality standardization through floor rearing advances in Quang Ngai, room emerges to consider it as a route for sourcing export-standard cocoons and mulberry products by the lot.
From the standpoint of experiential content, a cross-border project of 'sericulture x food x tourism' combined with a Japanese regional base such as Kyoto is, in theory, possible. Combined with OYAOYA, the dried-vegetable D2C operated by Agriture, and the novelty business Novelty no Madoguchi, ideas for repurposing silk fiber and processed mulberry-fruit products into gifts also come into view.
Related articles on this site:
- Vietnamese chili prices crash 90% — farmers in Quang Ngai province face losses
- From coffee husks to "cascara tea"—a by-product transformed into four times the value of green beans
- Dong Thap's "footprint-free paddies" at 120 hectares—with 6 billion VND in annual sales, a standard-bearer for the one-million-hectare plan
6. Industry ripple: traditional industry x youth entrepreneurship x experience economy
What is symbolic about the Quang Ngai case is that a regional traditional industry is being redesigned not as 'doing it merely because it is old' but on three points: (1) a technical improvement in floor rearing, (2) youth-led community operation, and (3) expansion into e-commerce and experiential content. In the province too, the Youth Union is trying to apply the same model to other traditional crafts (incense, textiles, fishing-village foods, and so on), and there are signs of the 'corporatization' of traditional industries advancing.
In Vietnam as a whole, sericulture is known with Lam Dong province in the Central Highlands (especially around Bao Loc) as a major growing region, but if a model with a realistic cost structure gets off the ground in coastal-central Quang Ngai, it contributes to stabilizing the domestic supply network in the sense of regional dispersion and climate-risk dispersion as well.
7. Project overview
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Leader | Tang Long Quy, age 35 |
| Location | Buong village, Nghia Giang commune, Quang Ngai province |
| Business form | A cooperative group for mulberry cultivation + silkworm rearing |
| Participation scale | 12 households (5 youth-led) |
| Main technical improvement | Floor wooden-tray rearing (50% labor savings) |
| Main sales channels | Export-standard cocoons, regional channels, e-commerce (expanding) |
| Supporting body | Quang Ngai Province Youth Union |
| Historical background | Family entry failed in 2002 → retried in the 2020s |
8. Summary
The sericulture revival in Buong village, Quang Ngai province, is a good example of young entrepreneurs reconstructing a traditional industry through 'technical improvement + community + experience economy.' Earnings on the scale of 100 million Vietnamese dong a year are a practical level for rural Vietnam, and for the province, hit by a chili-price crash, it is also a move that serves to diversify income sources. For Japan's food-OEM and agritourism stakeholders, it is a case worth watching both as a candidate sourcing destination for mulberry-derived materials and as material for region-linked content.
Source
- Asia News Network (distributed by Vietnam News), 'Young people revive fading traditional trades in Vietnam's Quang Ngai'
- Vietnam News (related to VnExpress International), regional-economy section
- Quang Ngai Province Youth Union, public materials on the entrepreneur-support program
