Taiwanese female entrepreneurs cultivate the "vanilla dream" for ten years

Taipei, 4 Aug (Xinhua) -- In a farm in Yuli Township, Hualien County, Taiwan, patches of rosemary and lavender emit a rich fragrance that is heart-warming. This is one of many farms built by Taiwanese entrepreneur Zhan Ruhui on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, dedicated to growing pure natural herbs.

The 52-year-old Zhan Ruhui has so many family members of vanilla cultivation that it's hard to imagine that she has been in the electronics industry for more than 20 years. More than 10 years ago, an unexpected setback "turned a corner" in her life.

When she was in an electronics company, the high-intensity work made Zhan Ruhui like aromatherapy and use a lot of aromatherapy washing products. Over time, the toxic chemical components in it caused her to have symptoms of "percutaneous poisoning", and her daughter was born prematurely, and finally had to remove the uterus and gallbladder.

A serious illness did not make Zhan Ruhui depressed, but inspired her to start learning the cultivation of pure natural herbs and related product research and development techniques, and also went to the United Kingdom to study to obtain perfumer qualifications.

Since 2006, Zhan Ruhui began to look around taiwan for land suitable for growing vanilla, she found that the climate and soil in Hualien Yuli are very suitable, so she signed a contract with local farmers, handed over vanilla seedlings to farmers for farming, and then purchased farmers' vanilla finished products, and finally made essential oils, toiletries and other products. From 2006 to 2015, Zhan Ruhui invested about 45 million (NT$, the same below) in farms and planting techniques.

Interlaced like a mountain, in the face of the unfamiliar field of vanilla planting, Zhan Ruhui has gone to the United Kingdom, France, Canada for many times to learn from the experience, and has invited experts in vanilla, soil, plants and other aspects to join the research and development.

"It took 8 years to develop it alone!" Zhan Ruhui said that in addition to planting herbs and plants, fragrance blending also has university questions, such as lavender has a wide variety of types, only a single variety of blending, aroma, energy are insufficient. After 3 years of continuous experimentation, the product combined with feather leaf lavender and tooth leaf lavender was finally used to achieve the best results.

She believes that vanilla products that do not use any chemical additives are the healthiest for the human body, and requires that vanilla cannot be applied pesticides. "If vanilla has an infectious disease or insect infestation, we let the vanilla adapt until the seedlings are no longer affected."

At Hualien Yongfu Nature Farm, farmer Li Dengyong said: "We usually plant vanilla and weeds together, because wild grasses can not only ensure less soil moisture loss, but also keep vanilla from sunlight." "But vanilla can't be completely free of sunlight, so farmers have to remove some of the overly dense weeds every day."

"Because we are pesticide-free farming, there are often insects like ladybugs on vanilla." Li Dengyong pointed to a large piece of vanilla and told reporters that due to the good ecology, there will be fireflies in the farmland.

In 2015, Zhan Ruhui founded the "Fu Tong Yuan" brand, which specializes in additive-free vanilla products, including toiletries, detergents, pet bath fragrances, etc. In the beginning, consumers didn't buy it.

Zhan Ruhui said that in order to eliminate consumer doubts, she chose to go to roadshows and speeches across the strait to communicate with consumers face-to-face so that consumers can experience the effects of products first-hand.

After several years of hard work, Zhan Ruhui's vanilla industry began to blossom and bear fruit. In 2016, the company's turnover was only 2.85 million, which increased to 12 million last year and is expected to exceed 60 million this year. The market has also expanded from Taiwan to the mainland.

Zhan Ruhui is very optimistic about the mainland market, and the company's plantation in Conghua, Guangdong, has begun trial operation. Growing vanilla, she says, is mainly about places with clean soil and plenty of sunshine. At present, the cultivation of the first mainland vanilla has begun in the first half of this year, and is currently waiting for the domestication and planting results of the plant.

"We are also looking for different locations, including sites in Shanghai and Hangzhou, and have plans to work with local farmers in the future." Zhan Ruhui said that at present, the mainland's demand for natural plants and toiletries is the largest in the world, and users of consumption upgrades pay more attention to the non-toxic and healthy quality of products, natural vanilla herbs and natural products extracted by natural agricultural cultivation The market prospect is broad, of course, high-quality products need to work marketing and channels.

According to the relevant plans of the mainland, the market size of the big health industry is expected to reach 10 trillion yuan by 2020, and it will exceed 16 trillion yuan in 2030. In order to open up the mainland market, Zhan Ruhui plans to cooperate with e-commerce companies in the mainland. At present, her company is negotiating with several e-commerce companies in Shanghai and Guangzhou.

"In September this year, they will come to Taiwan to shoot in reality, and they will also cooperate with the mainland's daily chemicals regulations to file applications." Zhan Ruhui said that in early October, the company will launch products on mainland e-commerce platforms.

"Vanilla is something I love and it's my dream to start a business in this line. I hope to bring natural and healthy vanilla products to more consumers on both sides of the strait. She said. (End)