{"id":1439,"date":"2026-08-02T13:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T04:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/?post_type=industry_news&p=1439"},"modified":"2026-08-02T13:45:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T04:45:00","slug":"phutho-bonsai-cluster","status":"publish","type":"industry_news","link":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/en\/industry_news\/phutho-bonsai-cluster\/","title":{"rendered":"Phu Tho's Tu Vu bonsai farmers, 50 households, grow into a 10-hectare horticulture area earning 100\u2013500 million dong a year"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Tu Vu commune (formerly Hoang Xa, former Thanh Thuy district) of Phu Tho province in northern Vietnam, the number of farmers handling bonsai and ornamental plants has passed 50 households and the cultivation area has reached 10 ha. The local paper Dan Viet reported it on July 30, 2026. Annual income per household has widened to 100 million to 500 million dong (about \u00a5590,000 to \u00a52.9 million, roughly estimated at \u00a51 \u2248 170 dong), and a rice-farming village is changing shape into a horticulture cluster. For Japanese floriculture and horticulture buyers, this region-building is a clue to confirm both the possibility of imports and contract growing and the wall of plant quarantine.<\/p>\n

In the farming village of Tu Vu, bonsai has become a livelihood of 50 households and 10 ha<\/h2>\n

Tu Vu commune was originally a farming village built around rice. Resident Hung Van Hoang says, 'People in our village have mainly done farming.' In one corner of it, households specializing in peach (dao) bonsai and potted ornamental trees have increased. In ward 20 (Khu 20) in particular, more than 10 near-full-time farmers have gathered, forming the core of the cluster. Hung Thanh Tung, who has walked this path for 20 years, says, 'Bonsai is not only about bending branches to form a shape but about entrusting a philosophy of how to live,' hinting that the craft of shaping has been passed down across generations. The local enthusiasts' club (Chi hoi) is led by Nguyen Quyet Bia, loosely connecting individual farmers. The move to switch low-profit paddies to other crops is happening everywhere, and the case in Dai An, Da Nang, where paddies were switched to lotus to build a growing region<\/a>, set side by side, shows that Tu Vu's bonsai too is one of the choices of 'changing how land is used.'<\/p>\n

What generates 100 million to 500 million dong a year is Tet demand and the inherited craft of shaping<\/h2>\n

Income from bonsai is inseparable from demand for the Lunar New Year (Tet). In Vietnam, flowering peach trees and shaped potted plants become the centerpiece of New Year decoration, and sales and prices move in a concentrated way at this time. Tu Vu farmers can earn 100 million to 500 million dong each because there is a clear outlet in Tet, and ward 20's cluster answers it with branch-shaping skill and the sharing of seedlings and pots. A finish beyond the reach of one household's hobby is lifted by the division of labor and information-sharing among neighboring full-time households. The skeleton of the figures is summarized in a quick-reference table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Item<\/th>\nFigure<\/th>\nYen equivalent (approximate)<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Number of bonsai and ornamental-plant households<\/td>\nOver 50 households<\/td>\n\u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cultivated area<\/td>\nOver 10 ha<\/td>\n\u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Near-full-time households in ward 20<\/td>\nOver 10 households<\/td>\n\u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Annual income per household<\/td>\n100 million to 500 million dong<\/td>\nAbout \u00a5590,000 to \u00a52.9 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Per-capita income (2024)<\/td>\n60 million dong a year<\/td>\nAbout \u00a5350,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Poverty rate \/ near-poverty rate (2024)<\/td>\n1.4%\uff0f2%<\/td>\n\u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Converted roughly at \u00a51 \u2248 170 dong (a guide as of July 2026). The dong-denominated figures are per Dan Viet's reporting.<\/p>\n

Horticulture supports the village's 1.4% poverty rate and per-capita 60 million dong a year from below<\/h2>\n

As of 2024, Tu Vu commune's poor households had fallen to 1.4% and near-poor to 2%, and per-capita income reached 60 million dong a year (about \u00a5350,000). No figure isolating how much bonsai alone lifted the village's household finances is given, but this income level is probably not unrelated to the fact that, in a once rice-centered village, more than 50 households shifted their footing to horticulture. The pattern of ornamental plants becoming an exit from poverty is not Phu Tho's alone. At 1,600 m elevation, amid the fog, the Sa Pa case in which the Dao people turned terrestrial orchids into a product and escaped poverty<\/a> also shows the lifting power that flowers and ornamental plants hold as cash crops. That said, it is worth viewing calmly that Tu Vu's sales channels are for now centered on within the province and nearby, and are largely supported by the domestic market of Tet demand.<\/p>\n

Japan's flower imports deepen with Da Lat chrysanthemums, while live bonsai cannot enter because of the soil wall<\/h2>\n

Seen from Japan, Vietnam is already an important sourcing destination for flowers. Cut-flower imports are growing, and in 2025 Vietnamese product rose by 14 million stems. Spray chrysanthemums grown in Da Lat at 1,500 m elevation are rated for quality and are strengthening their presence as domestic cut-flower shipments fell 4.6% year on year, down 131 million stems. But live potted plants such as bonsai are a different matter. Japan's Plant Protection Act in principle prohibits imports of soil and plants with soil attached, and ornamental potted plants and seedlings require a Phytosanitary Certificate from the exporting country's government and an import inspection. A route for Tu Vu's bonsai to line up on Japanese shelves as is lies, in reality, beyond a high wall. From a procurement viewpoint, drawing this line first keeps the judgment from going wrong.<\/p>\n

What Japanese horticulture buyers read from Tu Vu is contract growing of cut branches and the credibility of region-building<\/h2>\n

So what does this region bring to Japanese horticulture and floriculture operators? First, procurement of cut flowers, cut branches, and foliage rather than live potted plants. As the track record with Da Lat chrysanthemums shows, Vietnamese flowers can become a supply source if they meet quarantine requirements. Region-building in which 50 households cluster across 10 ha and share techniques is also a signal of steadier supply than a single farmer. Second, a setup of in-house seedling production and contract growing. Once reliant on Taiwan, the case in which a Ho Chi Minh City lab replaced orchid seedlings on the scale of 200,000 a year<\/a>, overlaid, reveals a path of entrusting the upstream to a local cluster and holding specifications and varieties through contracts. Third, reading the very design of region-building. Starting from a hobby, clustering into ward 20, horizontal ties through the enthusiasts' club, and a sure outlet in Tet \u2014 applying this combination to other flower items lets you gauge early which region grows into a sourcing source next. Tu Vu's bonsai is hard to bring to Japan directly, but the process of a region getting off the ground becomes a yardstick for measuring Vietnamese flowers' next move.<\/p>\n

Sources referenced<\/h2>\n