Vegetable cultivation in Tien Giang province’s Go Cong Tay district. (Photo: VNA) Tien Giang (VNS/VNA) - The Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang plans to expand rotation cultivation models for rice and other crops in its eastern area in an aim to improve productivity and cope with natural disasters, its Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has said.
The eastern area, which includes Go Cong Dong and Go Cong Tay districts and Go Cong town, accounts for 28 percent of the province’s total area and has advantages in fruit orchards and marine economy, but faces saltwater intrusion and drought in the dry season.
Nguyen Van Man, director of the department, said the province plans to focus on growing more vegetables and other short-term crops to 2025 in the eastern area. Only two rice crops a year will be grown, while rice and other crops on rice fields will be rotated.
Under the plan, the province will transfer advanced farming techniques and encourage farmers to use Vietnamese good agricultural practices (VietGAP).
Co-operative groups as well as co-operatives will be expected to continue to work with companies to secure outlets for their members.
Go Cong Dong district, one of the major producers of rice and agricultural products in Tien Giang, has 10 agricultural co-operatives that have contracts with companies.
This has helped secure outlets and provide stable incomes for their members.
Nguyen Van Nhan, director of the Tang Hoa Agriculture Service Co-operative in Go Cong Dong district’s Tang Hoa cmmune, said the co-operative for many years has had contracts with companies to produce rice seeds and high – quality rice.
The co-operative produces high-quality rice on 50ha with an output of 250 tonnes a crop, he said. Companies purchase its rice at a price of 300 VND a kilogramme higher than the market price, he said.
The Tan Dong Clean Vegetable Co-operative in Go Cong Dong district’s Tan Dong commune is growing clean vegetables on a total of 30ha with a daily output of 2.5-3 tonnes, using advanced farming techniques.
Tran Van Buong, chairman of Tan Dong Co-operative, said the co-operative will encourage members to apply more advanced techniques to produce clean vegetables under VietGAP standards.
The co-operative will also encourage its members to expand the use of hydroponic farming, net houses and poly-green houses to grow vegetables.
Nguyen Van Qui, head of the Go Cong dong Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the district has two concentrated clean vegetable growing areas in Binh Nghi, Tan Dong and Tan Tay communes.
The two areas are guaranteed outlets by three agricultural co-operatives – the Binh Nghi Clean Vegetable Co-operative, the Tan Dong Clean Vegetable Co-operative and the Tan Tay Agriculture Service Co-operative, he said.
The three co-operatives have contracted with farmers to buy vegetables and later sell them to supermarkets and wholesale markets in and outside the province.
“Farmers in the concentrated clean vegetable growing areas now feel more secure about their products,” he said.
All communes in Go Cong Dong have agreements between companies, cooperatives and farmers to secure outlets for rice, vegetables and fruits for co-operative members.
To mitigate the impact of saltwater intrusion in the dry season this year, farmers in the eastern area have switched to growing vegetables or short-term crops on 2,700ha of rice fields that have problems accessing irrigation water.
In the ongoing 2020-21 winter-spring crop, farmers in the eastern area have planted more than 11,500ha of various types of vegetables and other short-term crops, which offer higher profit than high-quality rice, according to the department.
Farmers who grow leaf vegetables can earn a profit 2.6 times higher than that from high-quality rice./.
VNA
