Traveling to Nghe An, under the hot sun of the Central, people surely want to visit Cua Lo beach in order to immerse in the cool blue sea water and not to miss a chance to enjoy the Central’s seafood cuisine. Those are:  ha tho fish sauce, crab, squid dishes, cobia 7 dishes, steamed tamarind crab, clam soup, eel soup, etc.

Being located far away from Vinh city 16km to the East, Hanoi 300km to the North  and Ho Chi Minh City 1,400 km to the South, with a coastline of 10.2 km and eco-tourism sites, spiritual tourism, Cua Lo is becoming the destination of local and foreign tourists.

There is a famous village called Nghi Hai Fish Sauce Village (or Cua Hoi fish sauce). The village is characterized in this village most of the households are the business owners, fish sauce manufacturers. Products are manufactured using traditional method that has a long history, combined with the advanced achievements of modern science. The product materials mainly include different types of sea fish such as anchovies, herring, salted anchovies, etc. that are salted naturally and mined in the sea areas of Ha Tinh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An.

One of the well known establishments in this village is “Huyen Bien Fish Sauce” at Hai Giang Bock 1, Nghi Hai, Cua Lo. Its owner is Ms. Nguyen Thi Bien – a  member of TYM Cua Lo.

Since TYM came to Cua Lo, Ms. Bien registered to participate in Group 9 and original loan of 10 millionVND, now she is participating in the second round and nearly finishes paying the second round of capital.

Initially, with little funding and barely any production experience, her products were not well-known so that it was difficult to sell. After joining TYM, she got a loan and made investment decision on fish sauce processing tanks and production scale expansion. She put focus on maintaining credibility with customers, especially in terms of quality and service. Thus, her establishment is getting more crowded with customers coming to order her products. Especially, her family’s fish sauce product is always a meaningful gift for tourists on their sightseeing tours in Cua Lo. Her family is currently working on registration procedure to protect the product brand as well as to bring her product to a wider range of customers.

Even though the fish sauce production takes up a lot of time, she always completes and follows all the rules of her group and TYM’s regulations. In addition, Ms Bien is always enthusiastic about all arts and cultural activities as well as other community activities.

Besides increasing her family’s income, she also creates jobs and increase income for many women in the group. It is noteworthy that she is always ready to share experiences, provide technical guidance for all women within and outside her area so that they can follow her business model.

Nguyen Thi Quynh Trang

  Cua Lo – Nghe An