Prospects of Solanum procumbens in Bac Thanh Mien land

Although it has just taken root in Bac Thanh Mien commune (Hai Phong city), Solanum procumbens has brought high economic efficiency to farmers here.

Solanum procumbens brings decent income to farmers in Bac Thanh Mien commune.

Low cost, high value

Mr. Bui Nhu Tien's family in Hoanh Bo village was the first household in Bac Thanh Mien commune to grow Solanum procumbens in the locality. Nearly 10 years ago, realizing that rice cultivation was ineffective and there was a lot of seasonal pressure, Mr. Tien struggled to find a new direction in agricultural production.

After researching, Mr. Tien decided to choose Solanum procumbens to replace rice. Although it is a new production model, Mr. Tien did not encounter any difficulties in cultivation. Solanum procumbens is a strong plant, suitable for many types of soil and is drought-resistant, so it does not require much care. Meanwhile, this is a popular medicinal plant for making medicine, so the output is favorable.

“At first, my family only planted a few sao of experimental plants. Later, we saw that the plants were easy to care for, had low costs, and high value, so we expanded the planting area. Currently, my family has nearly 4 hectares of Solanum procumbens. Each sao has an input cost of only about 600,000 - 700,000 VND, but the profit is from 6 - 8 million VND/sao/year,” said Mr. Tien.

Solanum procumbens can be kept for 3-4 years and harvested 3-4 times per year.

Mr. Bui Van Cuong in the same Hoanh Bo village has also boldly converted 1 hectare of his family's rice field to grow Solanum procumbens for a few years now. Mr. Cuong has seen clear results from this new crop.

According to Mr. Cuong, Solanum procumbens does not require much care and is rarely damaged by pests and rats. This is a native plant, planted once and can be harvested for 3-4 years, each year harvesting 3-4 crops. Moreover, this crop is less affected by the season. Mr. Cuong said that if growing rice, farmers have to worry a lot, especially about the season. Harvesting rice not on time can affect productivity and quality, so farmers are very passive. But growing Solanum procumbens is more proactive, not afraid of crop failure due to the weather. On the other hand, the output of this crop is very favorable, as soon as it is harvested, it is purchased, so Solanum procumbens growers are very excited.

Development orientation

From an initial experimental planting household, Bac Thanh Mien commune now has many households growing Solanum procumbens with an area of ​​dozens of hectares. To have connections in production and consumption of products, households plan to establish Solanum procumbens production groups and build OCOP products.

Mr. Bui Nhu Tien added: “Currently, growing Solanum procumbens gives high income, 3-4 times higher than growing rice. However, we still have to think further. Besides continuing to expand production, households growing Solanum procumbens in the commune also aim to find and maintain stable purchasing units. At the same time, research on processing Solanum procumbens products to increase production value instead of selling fresh and dried as at present.”

Although it brings high economic efficiency, the expansion of the production scale of Solanum procumbens in Bac Thanh Mien commune still needs appropriate orientation and calculation.

Bac Thanh Mien commune has more than 2,000 hectares of cultivated land. The locality has a tradition of intensive rice cultivation. Therefore, the introduction of Solanum procumbens into production opens up a new direction in agricultural development in the locality. People carry out crop restructuring to increase production value per unit area. Although it has many advantages compared to other crops, Solanum procumbens has the limitation of dying easily in flooded conditions. Therefore, this plant variety is only suitable for fields with high ground. Therefore, when expanding the area, appropriate planning is required.

According to Mr. Tran Huu Trinh, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Bac Thanh Mien Commune, the actual production shows that the model of growing Solanum procumbens in the commune has brought high economic efficiency. However, this is a new crop, so the People's Committee of the commune also orients farmers to develop it in accordance with market demand, avoiding the situation of massive planting. In the coming time, based on the actual situation, the locality will have a plan to develop an effective, stable and sustainable Solanum procumbens production model.
HOANG LINH - THANH CHUNG

Source: https://baohaiphong.vn/trien-vong-cay-ca-gai-leo-tren-dat-bac-thanh-mien-521092.html