Prospects for developing a model of growing soybeans and vegetables on rice fields

Article and photos: Khanh Trung

In the past 2 years, farmers in some communes and towns in Thoi Lai district have planted soybeans on the rice fields to harvest fresh fruit to make soybean vegetables. The soybean vegetable growing model has helped farmers earn many times higher income than rice because soybeans are grown quickly and have higher productivity, fruit yield and selling price than rice...

Harvesting vegetable soybeans grown on rice fields in the 2023 summer-autumn crop in Thoi Lai district.

Thoi Lai currently has about 40 hectares of vegetable soybeans in Tan Thanh commune and Thoi Lai town. Soybeans are mainly grown by farmers on rice fields. Soybeans can be grown continuously in many crops or rotated between soybeans and rice and other vegetables such as corn, watermelon, etc. In particular, rotating soybeans with rice and vegetables helps improve the soil and reduce pests, creating favorable conditions for high-yield crops, while farmers also reduce costs for fertilizers and pesticides. Soybeans are planted by farmers for about 65-70 days before they are ready to harvest. Each hectare of land used to grow vegetable soybeans can yield and produce 1.5-2 tons of fruit per crop. Recently, vegetable soybeans have been sold by farmers in Thoi Lai district to traders and businesses at prices ranging from 13,000-16,000 VND/kg. Soybean vegetable farmers earn at least 6-12 million VND/ha/crop, or even more. Because each crop is relatively short, farmers can produce up to 4 soybean crops each year, either continuously or in rotation with other crops.

Mr. Nguyen Van Dong, residing in Tan Thanh commune, Thoi Lai district, said: "Growing vegetable soybeans can bring many times higher income than growing rice. For example, in the summer-autumn crop of 2023, rice farmers only made a profit of about 2 million VND/cong. Growing vegetable soybeans can bring a profit of over 10 million VND/cong thanks to the soybeans reaching a yield of up to 1.5 tons/cong and selling for 14,000 VND/kg. In addition, rotating the cultivation of vegetable soybeans on rice land also contributes to soil improvement." Mr. Nguyen Huu Trung, a vegetable soybean farmer living in Thoi Lai town, Thoi Lai district, also said: "The model of growing vegetable soybeans on rice land has appeared for about 2 years now and helps farmers earn quite high profits compared to monoculture rice cultivation 3 crops/year. Growing vegetable soybeans can bring profits of up to 10 million VND/acre/crop of soybeans. Currently, my family has 9 hectares of land growing vegetable soybeans. Each crop of vegetable soybeans only takes an average of about 70 days, 20 days less than growing a rice crop. However, the investment capital for growing vegetable soybeans is quite high compared to growing rice, with the average investment cost for growing vegetable soybeans at around 7 million VND/acre/crop. Because growing vegetable soybeans not only requires heavy costs of land preparation, fertilization and watering, farmers also have to spend more on hiring workers to plant and harvest beans. At the same time, farmers have to spend more on preventing pests and diseases".

According to many farmers who have implemented the vegetable soybean growing model in Thoi Lai district, the local land for growing vegetable soybeans has high productivity, thereby helping farmers earn 3-4 times higher income than before when growing rice. Currently, the output of vegetable soybeans is quite favorable due to the huge demand and sometimes there is not enough goods for traders to buy. Almost 100% of the vegetable soybean growing area has been ordered by traders to consume output products right from the beginning of the season and traders provide seeds for farmers to produce. According to Mr. Tran Van Hung, residing in Chau Phu district, An Giang province, along with linking production and consuming vegetable soybean products for many farmers in An Giang province, he has also linked and consumed products for more than 20 hectares of vegetable soybeans of farmers in Thoi Lai district. In general, vegetable soybeans grown in Thoi Lai district have good productivity and fruit quality, which are highly appreciated by customers and consumers. Soybean products are not only consumed in many provinces in the Mekong Delta but also consumed in Ho Chi Minh City and the Southeast provinces, as well as exported to the Cambodian market.

Growing vegetable soybeans on rice fields is a promising model for expansion to increase production efficiency and profits for farmers on the same land area. At the same time, it also contributes to creating jobs and income for many rural workers through participating in the stages of production, harvesting and trading of vegetable soybean products. However, because this is a relatively new model in the locality, farmers still face difficulties in production due to not fully understanding the process, cultivation techniques and ways to prevent and control pests on soybeans. On the other hand, farmers also have difficulty finding soybean seeds and lack capital in production because growing vegetable soybeans requires a larger investment capital than growing rice. Farmers really need the support of functional agencies to provide technical training and ensure irrigation infrastructure for production and support farmers in terms of seeds, capital and expanding production and product consumption linkages to ensure stable output when increasing the planting area.

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