{"id":1313,"date":"2026-07-05T18:30:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T09:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/?post_type=industry_news&#038;p=1313"},"modified":"2026-07-05T18:58:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T09:58:32","slug":"bacninh-egg-melon","status":"publish","type":"industry_news","link":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/en\/industry_news\/bacninh-egg-melon\/","title":{"rendered":"The man who makes melons 'drink' eggs-a woodworker takes on fermented-chicken-egg melon growing in Bac Ninh"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In Bac Ninh province in northern Vietnam, a farmer who grows melons by having them 'drink' fermented chicken eggs keeps selling out, the local paper Dan Viet reported on July 5, 2026. The protagonist is Vu Chi Duc, who switched careers after about ten years as a woodworker holding chisel and plane. He grows net melons that claim Japanese standards using his own method of drip irrigation with fermented chicken-egg liquid. This is a case Japanese food buyers and agriculture people will want to note, both as a fixed point for gauging the quality improvement of Vietnamese melons and as a real example of how far entry into farming from another industry can go.<\/p>\n<h2>Four years after setting down the chisel: how an 11,000-square-meter 'egg melon' farm came to be<\/h2>\n<p>Duc's farm is in the Hong Son area of Tan An ward, Bac Ninh province. He ran a woodworking business for nearly ten years from 2012, but noticing that while competition in the furniture market intensified, demand for clean produce and high-tech agriculture was growing, he decided to switch.<\/p>\n<p>In 2022 he built his first net house of 7,000 square meters, and in 2025 added another 4,000 square meters; he now grows in three houses totaling over 11,000 square meters. His mainstay items are orange-flesh and green-flesh net melons that claim Japanese standards, and he also handles cucumbers, the imported premium variety 'Ichiba,' and yellow-skinned Hami-type melons. Yield is 3 to 5 tonnes per 1,000 square meters per crop. Sales channels center on supermarkets and clean-produce specialty stores, with some going overseas, and during harvest season it is reported to stay in a 'chay hang (sold out)' state.<\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<th>Item<\/th>\n<th>Details (based on reporting)<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Operator<\/td>\n<td>Vu Chi Duc (former woodworker)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Location<\/td>\n<td>Hong Son area, Tan An ward, Bac Ninh province<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Woodworking period<\/td>\n<td>about ten years from 2012<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Facilities<\/td>\n<td>7,000 square meters in 2022, plus 4,000 square meters added in 2025 (three houses, over 11,000 square meters total)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Main items<\/td>\n<td>Net melons (orange flesh, green flesh), Ichiba, Hami-type, cucumbers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Yield<\/td>\n<td>3 to 5 tonnes per 1,000 square meters per crop<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Sales channels<\/td>\n<td>Supermarkets, clean-produce stores, some export<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<h2>Fermented-chicken-egg drip irrigation-reconciling 'organic' and 'precision' through a single tube<\/h2>\n<p>This farm's signature technology is a method of feeding fermented chicken eggs as a nutrient solution into drip irrigation. Duc explains that chicken eggs contain nutrients needed for melon growth, such as protein, amino acids, and calcium, and says that combining them with microbial materials to grow healthy vines yields fruit with high sugar content and uniform appearance and quality, while also keeping pests and disease in check (all of this is his own explanation; the recipe and application rates are not revealed in the article).<\/p>\n<p>What is interesting is that he unhesitatingly brings together the traditional organic-farming idea of 'fermented animal materials' with the precision-farming toolkit of drip irrigation and environmental control by smart devices. In Japan too there are growers who turn fish meal and bone meal into liquid fertilizer for fruiting vegetables, but stably running clog-prone organic liquid fertilizer through drip tubes requires fermentation management and filtration technology. The very fact that he keeps running three houses this way can be read as proof of a certain operational know-how.<\/p>\n<h2>The blueprint of his career change, seen in his own words<\/h2>\n<p>Duc's words in the article carry the tension unique to someone entering from another industry.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>'Switching from woodworking to farming was a very difficult decision.'<\/li>\n<li>'Diligence alone is not enough. Farmers today must keep learning new knowledge.'<\/li>\n<li>'Support from the state and the farmers' association lightened our burden.'<\/li>\n<li>'I want more support for promoting products on digital platforms.'<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It is as if he brought straight into farming the experience of winning customers on quality during his craftsman days. The article also conveys that he started out self-taught, from researching livestock and advanced farming models, and the fact that he makes full use of the support schemes of the government and the farmers' association while even voicing a concrete request for digital promotion shows where he stands as a manager.<\/p>\n<h2>Japan's high-sugar melon strategy is starting to be 'transplanted'<\/h2>\n<p>For Japanese readers, the core of this news is that melons flying the 'Japanese standard' flag are taking hold in Vietnam's domestic market with their own stories attached. There are three implications.<\/p>\n<p>First, the template of a value-added strategy is moving to emerging countries. Setting as a goal the value criteria of Japanese melons-high sugar, uniform appearance, suitability for gifting-and layering onto it the technical story of 'raised with eggs' that anyone can grasp. We should see it as a Vietnamese individual farmer beginning to reproduce, with his own materials, the branding grammar that Shizuoka's one-stem-one-fruit cultivation has practiced for years. In the same Vietnam, <a href=\"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/en\/industry_news\/hatinh-korean-melon\/\">a 'Korean melon' farmer in Ha Tinh province runs high-turnover operations in 500-square-meter units<\/a> has been built, and the melon as an item is becoming a vehicle for 'small-area, high-value-added' farming across Vietnam.<\/p>\n<p>Second, career-changers from other industries have grown into a layer of people carrying protected horticulture. On this site we have also covered <a href=\"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/en\/industry_news\/nghean-frog-farming\/\">the case in Nghe An province of an electrician who switched to frog farming<\/a>, and what they have in common is a template of 'channeling the organizing ability and feel for equipment cultivated in a previous career into capital-intensive, consolidated farming.' That Vietnam's origin formation is advancing through newcomers' capital investment rather than the expansion of hereditary farmers means that, for Japanese companies looking for local partners, the profile of partnership candidates is changing.<\/p>\n<p>Third, the reality of procurement. This farm keeps selling out to domestic supermarkets, so it is not a situation where Japan-bound export volume will come out right away. Still, since its variety mix is well suited to the Japanese market and it has clearly stated plans for export expansion and OCOP (One Village One Product) branding, it is worth keeping on a list of candidate origins a few years out. On the other hand, fermented chicken egg as an input may be subject to accountability for residue and hygiene standards at export, so during negotiations one should ask for disclosure of the application method.<\/p>\n<h2>The spread of protected horticulture in the north, and Bac Ninh as a location<\/h2>\n<p>Bac Ninh province is one of the north's leading industrial areas, known as a Samsung base, and for agriculture only a peri-urban, high-value-added route is left. Concentration on greenhouse cultivation is inevitable, and in the north <a href=\"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/en\/industry_news\/phutho-dragonfruit-smartfarm\/\">the case in Phu Tho province where dragon fruit achieved a fourfold unit price through smart conversion<\/a> exists as well, and the combination of protected horticulture x smart management x narrative is solidifying as the north's winning formula. Precisely because this is a region that hires labor while competing with industrial wages, the direction of labor-saving through drip irrigation and environmental control should only strengthen. Since obtaining OCOP certification also brings a province's tourism and distribution support, there is every chance that Duc's farm becomes the flagship of northern melons.<\/p>\n<h2>Practical information and summary-how to follow the 'egg melon'<\/h2>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<th>Item<\/th>\n<th>Details<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Growing region<\/td>\n<td>Tan An ward, Bac Ninh province, Vietnam (an industrial province within about an hour's drive east of central Hanoi)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Items<\/td>\n<td>Net melons, Ichiba, Hami-type, cucumbers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Current destinations<\/td>\n<td>Mainly domestic supermarkets and specialty stores, with some export<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Future moves<\/td>\n<td>Plans for scale expansion, raising the export ratio, and OCOP branding<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Points to confirm<\/td>\n<td>The actual application of the fermented-chicken-egg input, certification status, and whether there is an export track record<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p>The 'egg melon' farm that a woodworker built in four years after abandoning ten years of craft is a good sample for gauging the maturity of Vietnam's protected horticulture. If you are a produce buyer, watch Bac Ninh province's OCOP certification information and this farm's export trends on a half-year basis. If you are in agriculture, test for yourself the technical challenge of running organic liquid fertilizer through drip lines. In either position, the time has come to set aside the assumption that 'melons from emerging countries are still a way off' and look at the ground.<\/p>\n<h2>Sources<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/danviet.vn\/bo-xuong-go-ve-trong-dua-cho-dua-an-trung-ga-anh-nong-dan-bac-ninh-luon-trong-tinh-trang-chay-hang-d1440499.html\">Dan Viet, 'Bo xuong go ve trong dua, cho dua an trung ga, anh nong dan Bac Ninh luon trong tinh trang chay hang' (July 5, 2026)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u30d9\u30c8\u30ca\u30e0\u5317\u90e8\u30d0\u30af\u30cb\u30f3\u7701\u3067\u3001\u30e1\u30ed\u30f3\u306b\u767a\u9175\u3055\u305b\u305f\u9d8f\u5375\u3092\u300c\u98f2\u307e\u305b\u3066\u300d\u80b2\u3066\u308b\u8fb2\u5bb6\u304c\u5b8c\u58f2\u7d9a\u304d\u3060\u3068\u3001\u73fe\u5730\u7d19\u30c0\u30f3\u30d9\u30c8\uff08D\u00e2n [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[1,94,85],"tags":[387,368,44,413,414],"crop_category":[],"class_list":["post-1313","industry_news","type-industry_news","status-publish","hentry","category-vietnam-agri","category-north-region","category-fruits","tag-387","tag-368","tag-greenhouse","tag-413","tag-414"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry_news\/1313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry_news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/industry_news"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1313"},{"taxonomy":"crop_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/crop_category?post=1313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}