Party directive takes off a rice field. Part 2

Not only becoming the province's key rice granary, thanks to the fresh water source, farmers in Tanh Linh district have boldly applied technical advances in production, limited the use of chemicals in farming, and produced in a stable and sustainable manner. From there, creating clean organic rice products, not only bringing high profits to farmers, but also contributing to building and affirming the rice brand of Tanh Linh mountainous district.

Typical factors

Coming to the communes north of the river in Tanh Linh district today, witnessing the golden rice fields being harvested by farmers, we can feel the development of the La Nga river valley. On the rural traffic road made of solid cement concrete, Mr. Nguyen Truong Toan, Chairman of Duc Phu Agricultural Service Cooperative, drives his "Rep" car to each field to direct the winter-spring rice harvest of the cooperative. Mr. Toan shared: His cooperative was established in 1985, with an initial production area of several dozen hectares, which has now increased to nearly 180 hectares. At that time, production was mainly one crop depending on rainwater. Intra-field traffic had not been solidified and was narrow; irrigation was also lacking, so production encountered many difficulties and brought very little profit.

“Since the District Party Committee’s Directive 15 was issued, we have invested in building a solid irrigation canal system, bringing water to each field, and the internal traffic has been gradually hardened and concreted, making the cooperative’s production and business more convenient. From one rice crop per year, it has increased to 2-3 rice crops per year. Previously, we only specialized in producing rice, but the cooperative has boldly linked up with businesses to consume products. The linked area has increased to over 100 hectares. The cooperative’s profits from business have been quite high every year. Currently, the cooperative is applying for procedures to be granted the Duc Phu rice brand to supply to the market,” Mr. Toan added.

As one of the active factors leading the development of local agricultural economy, Mr. Cap Kim Thanh, Bac Ruong commune, said: Agricultural production in the current period is very favorable compared to before. Therefore, we must change the old mindset such as: sowing densely, abusing chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and instead produce quality, clean, safe rice for our health and that of consumers. His experience is to focus on production in only 2 main crops, which are winter-spring and early summer-autumn; limit production of the summer-autumn crop because this crop often falls at the peak of rain and floods, flooding, and total loss are inevitable. Mr. Thanh has dedicated 4 hectares of his family's rice fields to produce rice according to VietGAP and mobilized people to follow. From 9 hectares with 12 households participating initially, by 2023 it has increased to 20 hectares, with 20 households producing rice according to VietGAP. Profits are higher than normal rice production.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Duc, Duc Binh Co., Ltd. — Mr. Nguyen Anh Duc, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Duc Binh Agricultural Service Cooperative.

While packing bags of ST25 rice to deliver to customers, Mr. Nguyen Anh Duc, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Duc Binh Agricultural Service Cooperative, smiled and said: Agricultural production now only needs to prepare bags to hold rice, and the business will take care of everything else. Therefore, since the establishment of the cooperative in 2017 with a total area of 25 hectares, he boldly tested 0.7 hectares of organic production. Up to now, the organic production area has reached 50 hectares. The cooperative's rice is branded "Tanh Linh Rice". Currently, Mr. Duc's family packages and delivers about 10 tons of organic rice each month to customers in the province and major cities such as Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai. Each 5kg bag, with the logo of Tanh Linh Rice on the packaging with rice varieties OM18, ST25... he sells for about 140,000 VND or less. After deducting all expenses, Mr. Duc's family has an average income of 500 - 700 million VND/year.

It is known that the cooperative has 2 products of ST24 rice and OM18 rice recognized as 3-star OCOP products. The cooperative not only maintains organic production on an area of 50 hectares but also cooperates with farmers to increase the organic production area and improve the quality of rice products to 4 stars.

Enhance value

Mr. Giap Ha Bac, Deputy Secretary of the District Party Committee - Chairman of the People's Committee of Tanh Linh district excitedly shared: Previously, the winter-spring crop had to be abandoned in the dry season due to lack of irrigation water, but now it has become the main crop of the year. From using rice as seeds, now over 95% use certified high-quality rice varieties for production, with significantly increased productivity. Thanks to that, over 11,000 hectares of rice land have been maintained and stabilized, the large-scale rice fields have been expanded, and the high-quality rice area has been deployed and implemented, reaching nearly 1,800 hectares, accounting for 50% of the large-scale fields, with over 2,700 hectares produced in an organic direction, of which 50 hectares are produced according to VietGAP standards with the "Tanh Linh Rice" label.

In addition, the district also maintains links with the Mekong Delta Rice Research Institute and companies and enterprises producing certified rice varieties in a concentrated manner of 200 - 250 hectares/year. Rice production according to SRI and VietGAP methods is maintained annually from 260 - 300 hectares. At the same time, 2,550 hectares have been converted to dry crops to avoid cropping and natural disasters. Currently, Tanh Linh has been recognized by the province for 2 OCOP rice products with 3 stars (ST24 and OM18). In particular, in addition to 2 projects linking production and product consumption according to Decree No. 98 of the Government and Resolution No. 86 of the Provincial People's Council implemented in the past, Tanh Linh district has recently invited Loc Troi Group Joint Stock Company to invest in the district in the chain of linked production and consumption of rice products.

According to Mr. Giap Ha Bac, every year, the district has allocated budget to invest and support farmers in rice growing techniques, including organic rice growing. If initially only 3 cooperatives and 3 cooperative groups specialized in producing rice varieties with an area of about 50 hectares/crop (only producing 2 rice seed crops/year), now 12 cooperatives and 25 cooperative groups in the district are participating in breeding, with a total area of over 200 hectares. Up to now, the Tanh Linh rice brand has been used by some units in the area, packaging products in an organic direction with a quantity of about 1,000 tons/year such as Duc Lan rice (Duc Binh), Bac Ruong, Duc Phu...

From a poor agricultural district, Tanh Linh has gradually affirmed its position compared to other districts in the province. Not only that, the Resolution of the 9th Congress of the Tanh Linh District Party Committee, term 2020 - 2025, has identified one of the two breakthroughs: Expanding and improving the efficiency of linkages and production according to the value chain for products with potential and advantages of the district associated with innovating appropriate production forms; The District Party Committee has issued Plan No. 57 on implementing Resolution No. 05 dated September 10, 2021 of the Binh Thuan Provincial Party Committee (term XIV) on developing a modern, sustainable, high value-added agricultural sector. This is a particularly important condition for Tanh Linh agriculture to continue to take off in the near future.

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