Efficiencies of the Medifood.io’s organic farming model

Photo: Hong Thuy

Ms. Tran Mac Van Anh, co-founder of Medifood.io of Medifood.Io Co., Ltd (group 9, quarter 2, Chon Thanh town, Chon Thanh district, Binh Phuoc province) said that up to now the project has been implemented in provinces and cities in the Southeast region, the Mekong Delta, and the Central Highlands, with the aim of making it easier for everyone to access healthy food at good prices and helping farmers have a sustainable life. From the two initial members, until now Medifood.io’s community has grown to more than 400 student volunteers, engineers, customers, gardeners, farmers…

Coming to Medifood.io, people can acquire knowledge and experience of organic farming practices and self-apply to build their own gardens. That is also a way for everyone to join hands in helping farmers to operate in a more sustainable way. For customers, this is a way for them to bond with farmers, understand where their food comes from and how it is grown.

According to Ms. Van Anh, in 2016, Medifood.io started by supporting the sale of naturally grown products from family vegetable gardens at good prices for gardeners and reasonable prices for customers. Until 2019, Medifood.io focused on supporting struggling organic gardeners who wanted to transition to sustainable farming. Medifood.io supports gardeners in setting direction and helps them cut costs by teaching gardeners to make their own organic fertilizers, setting up for volunteers and agricultural interns to come and support at the garden. In addition, Medifood.io also supports output, communication and branding for gardeners.

Up to now, Medifood.io has supported 26 sustainable farming gardens in the Southeast provinces, the Mekong Delta, and the Central Highlands. In 2020, Medifood.io launched a series of "Gifts from Countryside", starting with "Handmade Rice Nuggets - Childhood Taste", with Medifood Rice Nuggets originating from Lai Vung district, Dong Thap province. This product is now available across provinces and supermarkets.

Currently, Medifood.io is building a medicinal farm Medifood Organic Farm in Chon Thanh district (Binh Phuoc province) with the model "Community Agriculture - CSA", operated by young agriculture engineers, who used to work at Medifood.io. In this model, customers and gardeners become a sustainable community. Everyone can become a member of CSA Medifood for only 45,000 VND/kg with organic vegetables from the garden - equivalent to the price of VietGAP (safety standard) vegetables. “This is a great way to support local gardeners, as it supports productions cost at the beginning of the season and ensures the output so that gardeners can feel comfortable and confident in sustainable farming, making it easier for everyone to have access to organic food at a price that is 60% lower than the prices at the supermarket”, said Ms. Van Anh.

In 2021, Medifood.io was awarded a certificate of merit and the model “Medifood.io’s clean agriculture” was recognized as an outstanding agricultural production model by the Chairman of Binh Phuoc Provincial People's Committee. Ms. Tran Mac Van Anh was personally praised by the Women's Union of Binh Phuoc province for having an outstanding start-up idea in 2020. Medifood.io is among Top 15+ Vietnamese enterprises with high social impact “She Disrupts Vietnam”, Top 4 Vietnamese brands to be honored at Shopee Vietnam Product Honor Ceremony, and the only project of Binh Phuoc province to enter the Final round of the National Women's Entrepreneurship Competition.

Bui Liem – Do Trinh
SGGP