Developing sustainable sub-urban agriculture

In recent years, the urbanization process in the province has taken place at a high speed, narrowing the area of ​​agricultural land while the demand for food in the inner city is increasing. To solve the problems related to the urbanization process, aiming to build a sustainable ecological urban area for the future, people in suburban areas have changed their thinking in production, strongly changing the structure of crops and livestock, investing in high-tech agricultural production...

Developing sustainable and environmentally safe sub-urban agriculture in Tu Xa commune, Lam Thao district.

Building concentrated commodity production areas

Tan Duc safe vegetable village, Minh Nong ward, Viet Tri city is located about 3km from the city center. Previously, Tan Duc people grew vegetables in the form of "each season has its own food", sometimes the whole village grew several types of vegetables, at the same time, so when the season came, "supply" was greater than "demand", leading to a decrease in price but still difficult to sell. To solve the difficulties for vegetable growers, build a concentrated vegetable growing area, produce according to plan, ensure income for people, in 2011, the People's Committee of Tan Duc commune (old) decided to establish Tan Duc agricultural service business cooperative, gathering vegetable growing households into one organization. From there, planning the growing area for each type of vegetable, making plans, assigning tasks to members, signing consumption contracts and applying safe production standards such as GAP, HACCP to the production process.

Thanks to that, the products of the Cooperative are trusted by many consumers in the city, and are available in a number of large supermarkets such as GO!, Coop Mart, Winmart, Phu Cuong... In 2018, Tan Duc safe vegetables (Tan Duc safe vegetables) were recognized with the collective brand "Tan Duc - Viet Tri safe vegetables" with labels, packaging, consumed and managed systematically. Each market has an official location for trading and consuming Tan Duc safe vegetables, the selling price is directed by the Cooperative to be consistent across all points of sale of the Cooperative. Currently, the Cooperative has a total cultivation area of ​​about 30 hectares. To create a brand of safe vegetables, the Cooperative has focused on production according to VietGAP standards, complying with technical processes, intercropping, and appropriate crop rotation, ensuring regular supply to the market.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh - Head of Tan Duc Agricultural Service Cooperative shared: Every month, vegetable samples from each member will be taken 2-3 times to analyze and test for safe vegetable indicators. If the vegetable samples do not meet the standards for protein content, ecoli, coliform... the product will be removed from the Cooperative's product list and will not be labeled with the Cooperative's product label. Therefore, the members of the Cooperative strictly follow the safe vegetable production process of the management agencies. The Cooperative always focuses on treating the soil environment as well as irrigation water sources, using microbial fertilizers and biological pesticides.

Phu Loi village, Phong Chau ward, Phu Tho town is a long-standing vegetable, root and fruit growing area in the town. Previously, people mainly grew according to traditional methods on a small, fragmented scale, without paying attention to quality, so the product value was not high. In 2012, Truong Thinh Agricultural Cooperative was established, since then the people were linked by the Cooperative to organize production, guided on planting techniques, care, pest control and post-harvest vegetable processing according to the correct process, so the product quality was significantly improved, at the same time, the Cooperative organized product consumption, helping to stabilize output. Currently, the Cooperative has 50 members, the total cultivated area is over 40 hectares, every year the Cooperative supplies the market with about 1,500 tons of vegetables, roots and fruits of all kinds... bringing in tens of billions of VND in revenue. In particular, some products of the Cooperative are recognized as reaching the 3-star OCOP level, which has helped to increase product prices, making consumption much more convenient than before.

Truong Thinh Safe Vegetable Cooperative, Phong Chau Ward, Phu Tho Town plans safe vegetable production areas, rotates crops, and ensures supply for the market.

Towards sustainable development of sub-urban agriculture

According to statistics from the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the total vegetable area of ​​the province is over 15,000 hectares, the yield is 165.6 quintals/hectare, the output is nearly 248,000 tons/year. People's thinking and awareness of commodity production development have many positive changes, the area of ​​concentrated production areas, linked according to the value chain has been expanded. In the province, 24 concentrated safe vegetable production areas have been formed with a total area of ​​430 hectares, 20 production and supply chains have been developed, supplying safe vegetables according to the value chain, providing stable products to large supermarket systems such as: Go!, Co.opmart, Winmart...

Of the province's more than 15,000 hectares of vegetable cultivation, 11,200 hectares currently apply integrated pest management (IPM) measures, accounting for 75% of the total area, of which the area certified for safety standards is over 200 hectares, implementing the issuance and management of 50 vegetable growing area codes with an area of ​​150 hectares, ensuring product traceability, some products have built brands and trademarks such as: Ha Hoa green squash, Tu Xa safe vegetables, Huong Non, Tu Vu..., there are 21 vegetable products certified to meet OCOP standards of 3 stars or higher.

Mr. Phan Van Dao - Head of the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection said: The goal by 2025 is to strive for the safe vegetable area of ​​the province to reach about 15,500 hectares, the average vegetable yield to reach 167.1 quintals/ha, the output to reach 259,000 tons, the production value to reach over 200 million VND/ha/year. Form 150 concentrated growing areas with an area of ​​890 hectares, 100% of the concentrated growing area, vegetable production ensures food safety, traceability, and is granted a growing area code. Attract and develop about 9-10 more cooperatives and cooperative groups to produce safe vegetables, the rate of products linked in production and consumption according to the value chain to reach over 30%...

To achieve that goal, the Agriculture sector continues to coordinate with localities to plan and effectively use agricultural land funds associated with changing farmers' awareness, promoting the role of the subject in developing agricultural production in the near-urban area. The People's Committee at the district level builds a plan to continue investing in completing and upgrading agricultural and rural infrastructure in a synchronous manner, focusing on investing in upgrading and constructing irrigation works according to the plan, in which priority is given to investing in canal systems, pumping stations, creating water sources for aquaculture and proactive irrigation and drainage for key crops; paying attention to dredging and renovating key irrigation and drainage canals, well meeting production requirements.

In addition, pay attention to improving the quality and professional qualifications of the leadership team, agricultural management staff, and agricultural extension officers from the district to the grassroots level. Provide training to improve the qualifications and capacity of cooperative officers; continue to innovate and improve the quality of vocational training for rural workers, linking vocational training with the transfer and application of science and technology in production. At the same time, promote support for enterprises, cooperatives, cooperative groups, farms, and farmers to develop production associated with linkage chains and supply chains in agriculture, support tools, solutions, software, digital platforms, and e-commerce for application in production, connection, promotion, and product introduction...

Phan Cuong