Prosperity from mulberry trees and silkworms

Women's Union members of Que Phuong village are well off thanks to mulberry trees and silkworms.

Like other households in the area, in the past, the women's union members of Que Phuong village had their main source of income from coffee, mixed with a few fruit trees. However, in recent years, lush mulberry fields and silkworm cocoons have opened up opportunities to reduce poverty and improve the lives of the members of the Cooperative.

The Que Phuong village silkworm cooperative was established in June 2021 with 10 members who are members of the Women's Union in the village. With the attention and support of the local government, the cooperative has access to credit loans from Lam Ha Social Policy Bank with an allocated budget of 600 million VND (an average of 60 million VND/member).

Ms. Nguyen Thi Tham - Head of the Que Phuong village silkworm farming group said: "After participating, the women will exchange and share experiences in developing the silkworm farming profession, accessing capital sources. At the same time, they will participate in training courses to improve their knowledge of silkworm farming and visit and learn effective models. In addition, they will maintain, develop and expand the scale of silkworm farming for the group members, and replicate it in the area."

As one of the members who has been involved in the silkworm farming business for a long time, Ms. Pham Thi Hanh said that the silkworm farming business has existed for a long time but has not been as popular and developed as it is now. However, it is easy to see that since the silkworm farming business, the family life of the members has become much more prosperous.

Ms. Hanh said that raising silkworms is not difficult, but one must regularly go online to learn and participate in training courses organized by the locality to improve raising techniques to reduce costs and achieve the best productivity and quality of cocoons. For silkworm raising, the hardest part is the 3 days when the silkworms are idle, but in return, raising silkworms brings high economic value. In addition, the family uses silkworm manure to fertilize mulberry trees, thanks to which the family saves a sum of money each year on fertilizer investment.

“Currently, the family has expanded the mulberry growing area to more than 5 sao. In addition, silk cocoons are purchased at a high and stable price, farmers do not need to worry about output. On average, every 2.5 months, a batch of silkworms is harvested, the family raises 3-4 boxes of silkworms. With the market price of cocoons fluctuating around 190,000 - 220,000 VND/kg, after deducting investment costs, each box of silkworms, I earn a profit of more than 15 million VND/month,” said Ms. Hanh.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hien - Chairwoman of the Women's Union of Tan Ha Lam Ha commune said that the mulberry silk cooperative model in Que Phuong village with the active participation of women's union members has brought many practical effects in the development of the local agricultural economy . Over the period of operation, the group has helped members exchange experiences, apply scientific and technical advances in production, improve productivity and quality of silkworm cocoons. Many households have stable incomes, become well-off, contributing to reducing the poverty rate in the commune.

“In addition to its economic value, the model also demonstrates the spirit of solidarity and mutual support among members, creating jobs for local female workers, helping women to be confident and affirm their role in developing the family and community economy. The Commune Women's Union highly appreciates the efforts and creativity of the cooperative members and will continue to accompany and support the expansion of production scale with the criteria of sustainability, efficiency and environmental friendliness. The above cooperative model further affirms the dynamic and creative role of women in building new rural areas and sustainable economic development,” affirmed the President of the Women's Union of Tan Ha Commune, Lam Ha.

Source: https://baolamdong.vn/kham-kha-tu-cay-dau-con-tam-403214.html