A bitter melon crop in what used to be a rice field in Dong Thap province’s Thanh Binh district. (Photo: VNS/VNA) Dong Thap (VNS/VNA) - Farmers in the Mekong Deltaprovince of Dong Thap have switched to growing short-term crops and perennialtrees and breeding aquatic species on nearly 5,000ha of paddies.
The crops include vegetables, watermelon, corn, and lotus and thetrees include mango, jackfruit, lime, and orange.
Mango, jackfruit, longan, and lime offer them a profit of 50-200million VND (2,000-8,200 USD) per hectare per year, according to the provincialDepartment of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Nguyen Van Long in Thanh Binh district’s Tan My commune has turneda one-hectare rice field into an orchard and grows guava, milk apple, alongwith some types of vegetables like bitter melon, gourds and okra. He earnsmore than 100 million VND (4,100 USD) a year, he said.
The restructuring has followed the province’s agricultural zoningplans, market demand, water availability, and weather conditions, according tothe department.
The province has created concentrated farming areas by poolinglands and linkages between various stakeholders to develop agricultural valuechains.
Le Quoc Dien, deputy director of the department, said farmers areencouraged to switch to suitable crops, especially if their rice fields areunproductive.
The restructuring aims to exploit the natural advantages in eachlocality and ensure sustainability, he said.
This would help develop specialised farming areas to ensure largeoutputs and develop brand names for agricultural products to serve exports, headded.
The province, one of the largest Thai jackfruit producers in thedelta, has more than 3,000ha under the fruit, whose prices are now high andfarmers earn profits of 10,000-20,000 VND per kilogramme.
With local soil conditions being ideal for it, the average yieldis 40-50 tonnes per hectare per year.
The province aims to increase the Thai jackfruit growing area to4,067ha by 2025.
During the ongoing flooding season and the autumn-winter crop,farmers there have grown 6,281ha of vegetables and other short-term crops.
They have harvested nearly 3,000ha of lotus, corn, taro, gourds,and watermelon and earned profits of 12-77 million VND (500-700 VND) perhectare per crop.
Most vegetable growing areas have adopted integrated pestmanagement, safe farming methods and Vietnamese good agricultural practices(VietGAP) or organic standards.
In Lap Vo district, taro is the key product and is grown on nearly500ha in autumn-winter.
Tran Hoang Nam, Vice Chairman of the district People’s Committee,said taro has a yield of 10-11 tonnes per hectare and fetches profits of 70-80million VND (2,900-3,300 USD).
The district has 100ha planted using safe farming methods, 108hahave received VietGAP certification and eight growing areas have productioncodes to serve domestic and export requirements./.
The crops include vegetables, watermelon, corn, and lotus and thetrees include mango, jackfruit, lime, and orange.
Mango, jackfruit, longan, and lime offer them a profit of 50-200million VND (2,000-8,200 USD) per hectare per year, according to the provincialDepartment of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Nguyen Van Long in Thanh Binh district’s Tan My commune has turneda one-hectare rice field into an orchard and grows guava, milk apple, alongwith some types of vegetables like bitter melon, gourds and okra. He earnsmore than 100 million VND (4,100 USD) a year, he said.
The restructuring has followed the province’s agricultural zoningplans, market demand, water availability, and weather conditions, according tothe department.
The province has created concentrated farming areas by poolinglands and linkages between various stakeholders to develop agricultural valuechains.
Le Quoc Dien, deputy director of the department, said farmers areencouraged to switch to suitable crops, especially if their rice fields areunproductive.
The restructuring aims to exploit the natural advantages in eachlocality and ensure sustainability, he said.
This would help develop specialised farming areas to ensure largeoutputs and develop brand names for agricultural products to serve exports, headded.
The province, one of the largest Thai jackfruit producers in thedelta, has more than 3,000ha under the fruit, whose prices are now high andfarmers earn profits of 10,000-20,000 VND per kilogramme.
With local soil conditions being ideal for it, the average yieldis 40-50 tonnes per hectare per year.
The province aims to increase the Thai jackfruit growing area to4,067ha by 2025.
During the ongoing flooding season and the autumn-winter crop,farmers there have grown 6,281ha of vegetables and other short-term crops.
They have harvested nearly 3,000ha of lotus, corn, taro, gourds,and watermelon and earned profits of 12-77 million VND (500-700 VND) perhectare per crop.
Most vegetable growing areas have adopted integrated pestmanagement, safe farming methods and Vietnamese good agricultural practices(VietGAP) or organic standards.
In Lap Vo district, taro is the key product and is grown on nearly500ha in autumn-winter.
Tran Hoang Nam, Vice Chairman of the district People’s Committee,said taro has a yield of 10-11 tonnes per hectare and fetches profits of 70-80million VND (2,900-3,300 USD).
The district has 100ha planted using safe farming methods, 108hahave received VietGAP certification and eight growing areas have productioncodes to serve domestic and export requirements./.
VNA
