Standing in the locality with characteristics of acidic and salty soil, Quang Phuc agricultural production, business and service cooperative (Quang Xuong) has developed typical local products into commodities. Thanks to the application of technical advances in production, 2 products, fish sauce and sedge mats of the cooperative, have been recognized as 4- and 3-star OCOP products at provincial level, since then the market has expanded.
Weaving sedge mats with modern machines in Quang Phuc agricultural production, business and service cooperative (Quang Xuong).
Quang Phuc is a purely agricultural commune in the low-lying area of Quang Xuong district, in which there are nearly 400 hectares of sedge growing land, distributed in the lower reaches of the Hoang and Yen rivers with daily high and low tides. This place has a traditional profession of planting sedge, weaving mats and fishing. Considered as a dynamic cooperative of the province, the cooperative has cooperated with the people, and at the same time developed the activities of purchasing sedge, purchasing mat weaving machines, and salting fish according to the traditional recipe. The production of people is still small and fragmented, so the cooperative has connected people to organize the production of sedge mats, production of fish sauce and processing products from sedges on a larger and more concentrated scale.
The local sedge growing areas are also combined with sedge and sedge farming. Every year, people in the commune harvest nearly 8.000 tons of raw sedge and more than 700 tons of sedge - which is a rich source of raw materials for the cooperative to develop production and business all year round.
Currently, in Quang Phuc commune, there are 5/6 villages still keeping mat weaving as the main occupation, including: Ngoc Binh, Van Giao, Ngoc Dai, Ngoc Nhi and Lien Son. Quang Phuc sedge mat has high durability and toughness due to the light saltwater cultivation of the sedge, the unbroken sedge, also known as the explosion phenomenon. The whole commune has more than 200 mat weaving machines, of which the cooperative members have about 200 machines, supplying 80.000 mats of all kinds to the market every day. The annual output of dry split sedge in the whole commune reaches 4.800 tons, 2.000 tons are sold to the market, worth about 24 billion VND, the rest is used to make sedge mats each year for 4.800.000 mats, worth nearly 100 billion VND.
Mr. Le Van Bang, director of Quang Phuc agricultural production, business and service cooperative, said: “In the current trend, sustainable agricultural development is a top priority. The application of agricultural practices in farming, then preserving products for processing plays a leading role, connecting producers with the market. That is the orientation and the work that our cooperative is doing. In fact, consumers are increasingly smart and careful when choosing food, as well as consumer goods, so fish sauce and sedge mats here have fully met the requirements of consumers."
After 3 years of operation, the cooperative has invested in a system of modern machinery in weaving mats instead of manual labor; applying production processes and improving technical skills for employees to improve product quality to meet the requirements of today's consumers, not only beautiful in appearance, guaranteed in quality, natural, and environmentally friendly.
Local authorities have always closely followed and strongly directed the cooperative to improve the production process, increase the application of science and technology in sedge and sedge farming; implement planning and develop areas of clean raw materials, organic fertilizers will be completely replaced for chemical fertilizers in sedge growing areas so as not to affect the growth of sedges.
Currently, the cooperative's OCOP products have been distributed through official trade channels and are available on the market nationwide. That is also the basis for the unit to continue to invest in machinery and apply modern science and technology, especially green production in farming and exploiting products from the homeland's salty and acidic soil.
Article and photo: Le Dong
