Growing clean mulberry, doing green tourism

Along with the development trend of organic agriculture and green agriculture, farmers in Tay Ninh are gradually switching to organic farming, creating products that are safe for the health of users.

Children get to experience picking strawberries in the garden (Photo: Duy Hien )

In Tan Loi hamlet, Tan Hung commune, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Vu has been developing an organic mulberry cultivation model on an area of ​​2 hectares, bringing economic benefits, protecting the environment, and opening up a direction for the development of agricultural ecotourism.

Driven by a desire to provide clean products to consumers, in 2021, Mr. Vu invested two years in improving the land using organic methods such as creating a vegetation cover, applying microbial fertilizers, and installing a drip irrigation system to save costs, labor, and protect water resources.

Approximately 1,000 mulberry trees are grown using sustainable farming practices, without the use of pesticides. Manual methods such as removing pests, discarding damaged leaves, and clearing the orchard, along with biological preparations, are used by him to effectively control pests and diseases.

The initial investment cost is approximately 250 million VND/ha, including land preparation, irrigation system, and seedlings. Annual maintenance costs are around 100 million VND/ha. Mulberry trees bear fruit year-round, with each harvest lasting about one month, followed by a three-month rest period for the trees to recover.

Thanks to the division of planting plots and separate treatment areas, his strawberry garden yields a continuous harvest. Currently, the family harvests about 80kg of fresh strawberries daily, selling them mainly to traders in Ho Chi Minh City and tourists. In addition, the garden provides seasonal employment for local workers.

Not content with just producing strawberries, Mr. Vu also utilized his strawberry farm to develop a green tourism model. Initially, there were only a few groups of visitors, but gradually, many tour groups have come to experience it.

Visitors can pick their own strawberries, enjoy fresh mulberry juice, pickled strawberries, dried strawberries, and many other agricultural products such as coconut water, green pomelo, pomelo peel jam, etc., at prices of 50,000 VND/kg for fresh strawberries, 60,000 VND/kg for pickled strawberries or a 250g bag of dried strawberries.

Parents and children participate in tree planting activities in the garden (Photo: Duy Hien )

During summer holidays or weekends, this place also hosts fun and meaningful experiential activities for parents and children.

In a lush green space, people can pick ripe strawberries themselves, participate in outdoor games, or experience being a farmer, learning how to plant simple vegetables like cabbage, spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc.

Ms. Ngoc Mai (from Duong Minh Chau commune) was delighted to bring her children here to experience planting trees and picking strawberries in the garden.

Ms. Ngoc Mai shared: "I find the activities of planting trees and picking strawberries here very beneficial. My child gets to directly experience farm work and understand more about the hard work of farmers. Most importantly, the child gets to exercise and run around outdoors instead of being glued to their phone like usual."

Besides bringing economic value, Mr. Vu's organic mulberry garden also contributes to the transformation of crop structure, enhances land use efficiency, and opens up a new direction for the development of agriculture combined with tourism in the locality.

Anh Thao

Source: https://baolongan.vn/trong-dau-tam-sach-lam-du-lich-xanh-a199167.html