Organic farm uses fresh fish as fertilizer

Starting to exploit the hilly area since 2018, up to now, after nearly 6 years of hard work, Mr. Bui Quang Huyen and his wife in Thuong Phuoc village, Trieu Thuong commune, Trieu Phong district, Quang Tri province have turned the barren, rocky land into a comprehensive organic farm with a revenue of hundreds of millions of VND each year.

Panoramic view of Mr. Bui Quang Huyen's organic farm in the hilly area of ​​Thuong Phuoc, Trieu Thuong commune, Trieu Phong district - Photo: LA

Sharing about his farm model, Mr. Huyen said that this area was previously forest land for growing hybrid acacia trees, which did not bring high income. With the determination to switch to other crops, after careful research, in 2018, with the support of Trieu Phong district in converting the crop structure, he decided to convert 4 hectares of forest land to build a comprehensive farm.

With many years of experience in gardening, Mr. Huyen realized that if he planted fruit trees in the usual way, the economic efficiency would not be high, affecting his own health and that of consumers. So he decided to switch to organic production with 3 hectares of Doai oranges.

It is easy to think but not easy to do. At first, Mr. Huyen encountered many difficulties because of the great effort involved. To help the orange trees grow healthily and produce sweet fruit, he fertilized the garden entirely with organic fertilizer from decomposed manure; at the same time, he learned and used the hydrolysis method, soaking and fermenting fish as fertilizer to water the trees.

On average, every year, he buys dozens of tons of manure and many tons of fresh fish to compost with biological products to fertilize the orange garden to create deliciousness and sweetness. Not disappointing people, since taking root on the Thuong Phuoc hill, the orange tree of Doai commune has shown to be suitable for the soil and climate conditions here and has grown very well. In addition, being fertilized with organic fertilizers, the soil in the garden is increasingly loose, the orange tree produces many fruits, juicy and limits fruit drop.

After nearly 6 years of perseverance and effort in pursuing organic orange growing, Mr. Huyen now has an orange garden with over 1,300 trees, following the "5 no" standard: no chemical fertilizers, no pesticides, no herbicides, no growth stimulants and no preservatives. Notably, in early 2024, with the support of the Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection, his orange garden was certified to meet Vietnam's organic standards.

According to Mr. Huyen's calculations, with 1,300 orange trees starting to produce fruit, his family is expected to harvest about 15 - 20 tons of fruit this year. With the current selling price of about 20,000 VND/kg, after deducting expenses, he earns a profit of about 150 - 200 million VND.

Not stopping there, in order to "take short-term to feed long-term", taking advantage of the remaining area, in 2020, Mr. Huyen decided to invest nearly 1.7 billion VND to build an industrial pig farm with full equipment and modern technology to serve the farming such as automatic feeding and drinking trough systems, cooling fans, heating lamps, biogas tanks...

Initially, he raised 500 pigs per litter, but from 2022 onwards, due to the complicated developments of African swine fever and unstable pig purchase prices from traders, he reduced the herd, raising 250 pigs per litter.

According to Mr. Huyen, industrial pig farming has many advantages over traditional farming: the pigs are healthy, less susceptible to diseases, gain weight quickly, have a high meat ratio, and are favored by traders. However, in order for the pig herd to develop stably, farmers must have a solid grasp of veterinary knowledge, regularly vaccinate, spray disinfectants to disinfect barns, and regularly monitor the health of the pigs to promptly handle emerging pathogens.

Currently, on average, he raises 2-3 batches each year. Each batch takes 3.5-4 months for the pigs to reach a size of about 1.1 quintals/pig. Depending on the selling price at each time, after deducting expenses, he earns a profit of 200 million VND to over 1 billion VND per year.

“For industrial-scale pig farming, farmers only need to sell at a price of 53,000 VND/kg of live pigs or more to make a profit. In the past few years, although the price was low at times, thanks to clever arrangement, I still made a profit,” said Mr. Huyen.

Head of the Trieu Phong District Agricultural Extension Station, Hoang Thi Thuy Trang, shared that Mr. Huyen's integrated farm is one of the typical farm models in the district. In addition to growing organic oranges and raising industrial pigs, Mr. Huyen also used the remaining area to build barns to fatten buffalo and cows, dig ponds to raise fish, and raise hundreds of free-range chickens.

In particular, the orange area certified to meet Vietnam's organic standards is the first citrus tree certified to meet organic standards in Trieu Phong district. Thanks to organic production, the value of the product is increased.

Not only that, through the model, it has gradually helped farmers change their awareness of quality agricultural production. This is also a direction for sustainable development, increasing farmers' income and protecting consumers' health.

Thuc Quyen

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/trang-trai-huu-co-tong-hop-dung-ca-tuoi-u-lam-phan-bon-188376.htm