Growing vegetables, a "safe and secure" job?

While many fruits, especially extroverted fruits, are in need of help, ordinary vegetables used in daily meals (commonly called vegetables) are sold at high prices by farmers and are easier to consume...

Vegetable production at Phuoc Hau Safe Vegetable Cooperative (Phuoc Hau commune, Long Ho district).

According to the Department of Agriculture and Environment, recently, the prices of various crops in the province have increased by 25-72% compared to mid-April. At Thanh Loi Cooperative (Binh Tan District), the selling price of sweet cabbage is 9,000 VND/kg (up 2,500 VND/kg or 45%), water spinach is 8,000 VND/kg (up 3,000 VND/kg or 60%), watercress is 50,000 VND/kg (up 21,000 VND/kg or 72%), cucumber is 10,000 VND/kg (up 2,000 VND/kg or 25%), regular lettuce is 11,000 VND/kg (up 3,000 VND/kg or 35%)...

In the province, vegetables used for daily meals are often grown by farmers and can be divided into the following types: leafy vegetables (such as lettuce, watercress, mustard greens, Malabar spinach, water spinach, green onions, coriander, etc.), root vegetables (including cassava, white radish, onions, etc.) and fruit vegetables (such as chili, squash, bitter melon, etc.). Most of these vegetables are easy to grow, well adapted to natural conditions in the province, have a short production time, low investment capital (several million VND/cong), so they are chosen by many farmers, especially for households with little land, poor households or places with high land that are not convenient for rice cultivation.

Mr. Tran Van Chien (62 years old, in Phuoc Hanh B hamlet, Phuoc Hau commune, Long Ho district) - a farmer with over 30 years of experience in farming and currently a member of Phuoc Hau Safe Vegetable Cooperative, said that currently, growing mustard greens is easier than before because seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and disease control agents are easily purchased at stores and agents; farmers are instructed on safe farming and production techniques by commune and district technical staff in very specific ways; mustard greens products are quite favorable because traders come to the fields to buy.

Since then, in addition to traditional vegetable growing areas, the vegetable growing movement has spread rapidly. In our province, in 2024, 36,546.5 hectares of vegetables and beans of all kinds were planted, with an output of nearly 695,000 tons. The plan for 2025 is that the area of vegetables and beans of all kinds in the province will increase to more than 37,640 hectares, with an output of nearly 700,000 tons. Thanks to the construction of large specialized areas, concentrated in Binh Tan, Long Ho, Tam Binh districts and Binh Minh town and the application of clean and food-safe production processes, Vinh Long 's vegetable products are very diverse, not only consumed in many provinces and cities in the country but also exported...

Many types of cooperatives specializing in the production of vegetables have been formed and have stood firm against market fluctuations and production conditions, such as Phuoc Hau Safe Vegetable Cooperative (Phuoc Hau Commune, Long Ho District), Thanh Loi Safe Vegetable Cooperative (Thanh Loi Commune, Binh Tan District)... One notable point is that although safe vegetable cooperatives do not have large revenues and low profits, their operations are quite stable and do not suffer from crises compared to cooperatives operating in other fields.

Normally, vegetables in the Mekong Delta (including Vinh Long) produce large quantities during the dry season, in the Winter-Spring and Summer-Autumn crops, concentrated from after Tet until the end of June. Because this is the time when production conditions are very favorable due to dry weather and little rain, vegetables are not damaged or affected by pests. During the peak of the dry season or flood season, the price of vegetables increases the most. The season with the lowest yield is during and after the flood season (from September, October to the Lunar New Year) because prolonged rain and floods make it difficult to grow vegetables.

In recent times, thanks to the increased implementation of technological solutions, farmers have gradually increased their investment in applying science and technology to production. Many households have boldly rented land to expand their area, equipped with equipment and machinery for production, etc. to create products that are large enough in quantity, quality, safety, low cost, and highly competitive.

In addition, the provincial agricultural sector continues to maintain a farming model that prioritizes the use of organic fertilizers, organic production and organic certification, such as the 12-hectare watercress growing model in Thuan An commune (Binh Minh town); at the same time, it supports the construction of 4 domestic growing area codes with an area of 20.46 hectares on vegetables, watercress, and white radish to facilitate domestic consumption.

However, experts recommend that, in order to produce vegetables that are "safe and durable", in addition to factors related to production techniques, farmers need to have a firm grasp of output factors (such as markets, product standards, production contracts and production linkages, product consumption, etc.) before expanding mass vegetable production to avoid risks.

Article and photos: MY TRUNG

Source: https://baovinhlong.com.vn/kinh-te/nong-nghiep/202505/trong-rau-nghe-an-chac-mac-ben-516068a/