Compared with rice-growing, flower and ornamental plant growing yields a much higher income. On average, each household earns more or less 100 million VND per year, a figure that many farmers had only dreamed of. Some people say that an ornamental plant is more valuable than 360m2 of rice field.

Flowers and ornamental plants in Phung Cong are diverse in variety. They include bonsai trees, such as ficus, benjamine fig, fig, camellia and barringtonia. There are flowers, such as lilies, flowering cherry-apples and scarlet euphorbia chrysanthemums.

The value of each garden varies depending on its scale and type. For instance, the garden owned by Nguyen Van Dien has only 30 bonsai trees but it is worth a billion VND.

According to him, growing bonsai trees yields a high income but not everyone can do this work because it requires the grower’s experience and aesthetics in selecting and making the shapes of the trees. At present he uses 1,800m2 of land to produce trunks or stumps of trees for making bonsai trees.

Like Dien, Hoang Van Tien’s family has five children who earn their living by growing bonsai trees. Tien said that floriculture is seasonal work while bonsai trees can be sold throughout the year.

The price of bonsai trees varies but in general it is fairly high. The price of a pot of a small-sized ficus or benjamine fig, which is several years old, is from 700,000 VND to two million VND.

A big tree with a sophisticated and beautiful shape can cost several million to tens of millions of VND. Some trees of a unique type are worth a billion VND.

Apart from bonsai trees, Phung Cong Village is also known for flowers of different varieties, particularly camellias, lilies and flowering cherry-apples.

Now the area for growing camellias accounts for nearly half the total flower-growing area in Phung Cong. This kind of plant has beautiful flowers, is easy to grow and sells well, with fewer labour costs and less care.

Nguyen Duc Ngai, Head of the Orchid Association in Phung Cong said that besides camellias, orchid-growing has also developed quickly because the price of orchids is high and the number of orchid tenders is on the rise. The price of an orchid pot is 2-4 million VND on average. A pot of precious orchids sells at over 10 million VND.

There is a large demand for Phung Cong flowers and ornamental plants. Apart from domestic markets, such as Hanoi, Quang Ninh, Hai Phong and some southern provinces, they have been exported to China, a country with strength in growing flowers and ornamental plants.

The flower and ornamental plant growing industry has not only created jobs for local people but has also turned Phung Cong into a green, affluent village.

However, in the future the floriculture in Phung Cong will face difficulties because the farming areas are being narrowed. There are inadequate policies on bank loans for occupational development, and plans on stable occupational development of the villagers and locality do not receive due attention.

These problems should be taken into account in the process of socio-economic development in Phung Cong in particular and the rural areas in general during the implementation of the plan on building new rural areas.