As many as 3,300 farming households in southern Tay Ninh province reaped great economic profits from this year’s crops by following the VietGAP large-scale model of cultivation.

Under the model, the farmers received technical support and applied advanced farming methods to reduce rice production costs and minimise harmful effects caused by pesticides.

Farmers cultivated a combined 5,400 ha of rice plantations, in collaboration with staff from the province’s plant protection stations and with technical consultation from the Plant Protection and Cultivation Departments under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

During the year’s winter-spring and summer-autumn crops, the rice production of local farmers reached an average of 6.2 tonnes of rice per hectare, up 300kg compared to previous crops.

Notably, they could reduce production costs by 1.3 million VND (61.61 USD) while their income increased by 3 million VND (142 USD) per hectare thanks to their involvement in the model.

The province is expected to raise the area of VietGAP rice cultivation to 6,000 ha with the participation of 4,000 farming households and will establish several co-operatives producing quality rice varieties to meet farmers’ demand and help improve the effectiveness of rice cultivation.-VNA