Strict process
The family of Mrs. Tang Thi Lam in Team 6, Phuc Tan Village (Gia Tan Commune) has 8 sao of cabbage. After being trained in care according to VietGAP standards, Mrs. Lam saw the difference compared to traditionally cultivated cabbage. Mrs. Lam said that from the stages of hygiene, farming, irrigation, seed selection, fertilizer, pesticides, care, and harvesting, everything follows a strict sequence and is carefully recorded by her for easy monitoring. "I find this cultivation process complicated and has many stages, but the products are safe, so we strictly follow it. I see that vegetables grow and develop well, with fewer pests and diseases," said Mrs. Lam.
With the goal of turning cabbage into an OCOP product, from 2022, Gia Tan Commune Agricultural Service Cooperative has planned nearly 8 hectares in Phuc Tan village to build a VietGAP production process with 43 participating households. Mr. Nguyen Long Tuyen, Director of Gia Tan Commune Agricultural Service Cooperative said: "We have to survey the implementation location, seek support and consensus from the people. We chose Phuc Tan because people in this area only specialize in growing cabbage and people have a high awareness of agricultural production".
To confirm that the products are produced according to safe processes, Tan Tien commune focuses on the inspection stage. According to Mr. Nguyen Van On, Director of Tan Tien Commune Agricultural Service Cooperative, every year, the staff in charge of natural resources and environment of the commune, together with the commune health station, organizes inspections at least twice to see if the people follow the production process and keep records. Every day, the staff of the Agricultural Service Cooperative visits the fields to grasp the production situation of the farmers to make appropriate adjustments. The local vegetable purchasing unit also participates in the inspection to have safe and quality products. "Therefore, Tan Tien commune's cabbage is guaranteed to be safe when exported to the market," Mr. On affirmed.
Actively support farmers
According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Gia Loc district, in 2023, the district will have cabbage products of Tan Tien, Gia Tan and Hoang Dieu Agricultural Service Cooperatives certified as 3-star OCOP products. Previously, since 2019, cabbage of Tan Minh Duc Cooperative (Pham Tran) was recognized as 4-star OCOP products. The total area of production areas is over 50 hectares.
To build and develop cabbage into an OCOP product, Gia Loc has had many solutions in the past. Ms. Tang Thi Hanh, Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Gia Loc district said: "We participate in surveying growing areas, organizing propaganda, training, supporting the construction of domestic area codes, barcodes, and traceability stamps for products to facilitate consumption in the market".
In order for farmers to build safe vegetable areas, in 2023, Tan Tien commune supported 10 million VND/ha with a total cost of 50 million VND in Quan Dao village. Mr. Nguyen Thanh Nganh, Chairman of Tan Tien commune People's Committee said: "We support people to build embankments, field embankments, buy seedlings, fertilizers... to build local OCOP vegetable production areas. The commune is also building a nearly 1 km long road to the fields with a cost of nearly 1 billion VND to facilitate the transportation of farmers' goods".
Since being certified as OCOP, farmers’ consumption of agricultural products has become much more convenient. Mr. Hoang Anh Thu, Deputy Director of Tan Minh Duc Cooperative, shared that the cooperative’s cabbage products are consumed much more conveniently when many stores, supermarkets, and kitchens purchase them in large quantities, at prices higher than the average market price. Thanks to that, farmers’ income has also increased significantly.
With clean production processes, Gia Loc farmers' cabbage products will certainly affirm their value in the market.
THANH HASource
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