Gardens in Dak Nhau are green with life

Pepper intercropped under cashew canopy - a popular multi-crop model of farmers in Dak Nhau commune. Photo: Diem Quynh

From Highway 14, turn to Minh Hung intersection following the Bom Bo - Dak Nhau traffic route. After more than half an hour by car, we saw the green gardens and fields of farmers' lives in the commune.

Plants support each other

The road to village 5, Dak Nhau commune has many high and low slopes. Interestingly, farmers here have taken advantage of the shade, reach, and trunks of trees to shelter other trees to increase the value of land use in their gardens and limit the situation of "cutting - planting, planting - cutting".

The coffee garden planted under the cashew canopy of farmer Tran Van Nhat (residing in village 7, Dak Nhau commune) is in the peak of its ripening season, with clusters of green, red, and yellow fruits blooming brightly. The news that the price of coffee beans on the world market is nearly 130,000 VND/kg makes Mr. Nhat even more excited, each step out to the garden makes him more enthusiastic and hopeful.

Mr. Nhat said: With more than 2 hectares of coffee planted under the cashew canopy, depending on the productivity and price of agricultural products each season, this model helps him effectively exploit the production land, bringing in a value of 300-500 million VND/hectare/year. What makes him happiest and proudest is being a "demonstrator" of the effective multi-crop, multi-crop model for ethnic minorities in the area to learn, contributing to the proper implementation of the local sustainable agricultural development policy.

Cashew trees used to be the main crop in village 5, Dak Nhau commune for decades. Up to now, the crop structure has shifted to pepper, coffee and fruit trees. Although no longer holding the "main" position, cashew trees are still kept by farmers as shade trees, creating canopy for pepper and coffee trees to grow. Notably, the cashew yield in intercropping gardens today is not inferior to that of the previous monoculture period.

With 3.3 hectares of land, farmer Phan Ngoc Toan (residing in village 5, Dak Nhau commune) grows plants such as pepper, coffee, durian, and cashew. For durian alone, he uses 5 sao for monoculture, the rest is designed according to the coffee and pepper model under the cashew canopy.

With the openness of a farmer, Mr. Toan shared: The design of a multi-layered crop model helps the garden to always be cool and airy, minimizing risks when a type of tree loses value or fails to harvest. Although this is a fairly common model with farmers in and outside village 5, Dak Nhau commune, each farmer still has his own characteristics. For example, raw pepper is planted under cashew trees or intercropped with coffee, or coffee under cashew trees and fruit trees. All are effective multi-tree models, maximizing the annual land use value on the same land area.

Coffee, pepper, and fruit trees are all grown by members of the Farmers' Association of Village 5, Dak Nhau Commune following the model of pepper and coffee trees interspersed under cashew or fruit trees. This model currently maintains a total area of pepper and coffee of over 1,000 hectares.
Mr. Nguyen Phu Hai, Head of Farmers' Association, Village 5, Dak Nhau Commune

Towards a prosperous life, local development

From 4 breeding cows supported in 2023 through the project under the National Target Program on Socio-Economic Development for Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas for the 2021-2025 period of the former Binh Phuoc province, up to now, Mr. Dieu Choth and his wife, Mrs. Dieu Thi Hong (S'tieng people, residing in Dak Wi village, Dak Nhau commune) have taken care of and developed the herd to 8 breeding cows and 5 calves.

Not only stopping at raising livestock, the couple also actively learns the economic practices of Kinh farmers, applying effective production models encouraged by local authorities such as growing coffee under cashew trees to increase income without having to cut down crops.

Ms. Dieu Thi Hong shared: After escaping poverty in 2023, she and her husband have more motivation to continue developing the economy, striving to become a household with a good income in the near future.

Dak Nhau commune currently has 13 villages, 26 ethnic groups, of which ethnic minorities account for about 51.7%. In terms of economy, agriculture still holds a dominant position in the locality. The Resolution of the 1st Congress of Dak Nhau Commune Party Committee, term 2025-2030 shows that the commune's economic structure is shifting positively and in the right direction. Of which, agriculture - forestry - fishery still accounts for the majority with about 80%; industry - construction 8%; trade - services 12%.

Dak Nhau is promoting the conversion of crop structure, prioritizing the expansion of high-value crops such as fruit trees, rubber, and coffee; and developing industrial livestock farms. Agricultural extension, veterinary, and plant protection work are being implemented effectively, contributing to improving productivity and quality of agricultural production.

In addition, land management is always of local concern. Registration, issuance of land use right certificates, updating of changes and conversion of land use purposes are carried out in accordance with regulations, helping to improve the efficiency of land management and use, creating a foundation for sustainable socio-economic development.

Mr. Le Xuan Nam, Vice Chairman of Dak Nhau Commune People's Committee, shared more: Dak Nhau Commune has advantages of fertile land, temperate climate; agricultural land area accounts for 73.7% of the total natural area, with key crops such as cashew, rubber, coffee, pepper, durian... This is a favorable condition to attract investment resources in the fields of agriculture, agricultural processing industry, as well as promote linkage activities, trade of goods and supply of raw materials from the communes in the Southwest of Lam Dong province to processing factories in Dong Nai and the Southeast region.

In the 2020-2025 term, Dak Nhau commune and old Road 10 received more than 70 billion VND in investment from the 135 programs and construction projects such as: asphalting 24.5km of inner-city roads; renewing more than 90km of concrete roads; building and repairing 7/7 schools... The agricultural processing industry has developed rapidly and strongly, creating jobs and stable income for workers.

Diem Quynh

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/kinh-te/202510/ray-vuon-o-dak-nhau-xanh-mau-cuoc-song-8657582/