Accompanying farmers in production

The Thai custard apple growing model helps Ms. Tran Thi Thu Van's family in Hamlet 4, Thoi Hung Commune, Co Do District become prosperous.

Many years ago, on 2 hectares of land, Ms. Tran Thi Thu Van's family in Hamlet 4, Thoi Hung Commune planted longan, but the yield was not high. After learning about many effective economic models, over the past 3 years, Ms. Van has switched to growing Thai custard apples. Ms. Van shared: "At first, I planted 600 Thai custard apple trees for testing. In the first crop, I harvested more than 1 ton of fruit, selling for 45,000 VND/kg. Seeing the high efficiency of the model, I decided to expand. Currently, the whole garden has about 2,000 Thai custard apple trees. In order to support me in developing the model, the Farmers' Association of Thoi Hung Commune created conditions for me to participate in training courses on care and fertilization techniques; introduced me to loans from preferential loan sources to invest in installing automatic irrigation systems, buying fertilizers and pesticides..." According to Ms. Van, each year, Thai custard apples yield 2 harvests; the bigger the tree, the higher the yield. On average, each crop, Ms. Van harvests 2 tons of fruit/1,000m2; depending on the market time, traders buy at 30,000-50,000 VND/kg. After deducting expenses, Ms. Van's family earns about 500 million VND per crop.

The lotus growing model of Mr. Nguyen Hoang Anh's family in Hamlet 3, Thoi Hung Commune, Co Do District is also highly effective. Mr. Hoang Anh shared: "Previously, on 10 hectares of land, I grew rice so the harvest was not high. For more than 10 years now, I have switched to growing Thai lotus for lotus. For lotus, in 2 years, 3 crops can be grown. From the time the lotus flowers bloom until the time the lotus is harvested, it takes about 28-30 days. The harvest time lasts about 2 months." On average, on each hectare of land, Mr. Hoang Anh harvests about 500kg of lotus, the price that traders buy fluctuates at 17,000-18,000 VND/kg. After deducting expenses, he earns a profit of more than 30 million VND/crop, helping the family economy to become increasingly stable. Mr. Hoang Anh confided: "In the past, the Farmers' Association at all levels and the local agricultural sector have regularly supported me with farming techniques, loans... Recently, the Commune Farmers' Association introduced me to a loan of 50 million VND from the Social Policy Bank to develop the model."

In recent years, the Farmers' Association at all levels in Co Do district has synchronously implemented solutions to support farmers. In particular, focusing on vocational training and job introduction; building economic models suitable to local characteristics; creating conditions to help members and farmers access preferential loans for economic development... The whole district currently has 133 savings and loan groups from the Social Policy Bank managed by the Association at all levels, supporting 6,491 farmer member households to borrow over 251 billion VND for production; 1 group borrowed capital from the District Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, helping 114 households borrow over 3.4 billion VND. From the capital of the Farmers' Support Fund at all levels, in the past 5 years, the District Farmers' Association at all levels has supported over 736 members and farmers to borrow an average of over 6 billion VND/year, contributing to helping farmers develop household economy and replicate effective collective economic models.

In addition, the Association at all levels also coordinated with the Agriculture sector and related units to organize 228 training courses on science and technology transfer, 102 field seminars, 36 field visits... attracting thousands of members and farmers to participate. At the same time, promoting the implementation of the shift in production structure towards high technology; supporting farmers to produce according to quality and safety standards to meet the needs of the domestic and export markets; promoting the establishment of production Cooperative Groups (THT), production and agricultural service cooperatives (HTX); creating conditions for farmers to develop OCOP products from agricultural products to enhance the value chain... In the past 5 years, the district Farmers' Association at all levels has mobilized the establishment of 21 THTs and 10 agricultural commune cooperatives. Implementing the OCOP program, the district has 16 OCOP products ranked at the city level. In addition, the Association at all levels also cooperates with enterprises and agricultural material agents to support farmers in purchasing agricultural production materials with interest-free deferred payments; coordinates with relevant units to support seedlings for members to improve ineffective gardens, with a total support amount of over 4.4 billion VND...

Thanks to the practical support activities of the Farmers' Association at all levels in Co Do district, many farmers have boldly shifted their crop and livestock structure, striving to become rich legitimately. Over the past 5 years, the whole district has had 84,269 farmers' households register to compete in excellent production and business at all levels.

Article and photos: KIEN QUOC

Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/-ong-hanh-cung-nong-dan-san-xuat-a186830.html