Story of ecological agriculture at the foot of Bu hill

HANOI Skydiving enthusiasts in Hanoi are familiar with Bu Hill in Nam Phuong Tien Commune because they can enjoy the yellow color of ripe grapefruit gardens mixed with the green color of vegetable gardens...

HANOI Skydiving enthusiasts in Hanoi are familiar with Bu Hill in Nam Phuong Tien Commune because they can enjoy the yellow color of ripe grapefruit gardens mixed with the green color of vegetable gardens...

Nam Phuong Tien Commune (Chuong My District, Hanoi) has been a paradise for those who want to find thrills in paragliding for many years. This is also a place with favorable natural conditions that few other areas can compare to, being close to the mountain ranges of Hoa Binh Province, with forests and streams forming a green belt favorable for organic agricultural production.

Golden grapefruit season in Nam Phuong Tien. Photo: Duong Dinh Tuong.

Few people would have guessed that just over 20 years ago, Nam Phuong Tien was mostly bare hills and mountains due to deforestation. On those barren lands, the hot and dry season was scorching hot, the rainy season was muddy, and the crops planted were not economically effective.

Faced with this situation, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ha Tay (old) and then merged into the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Hanoi had a plan to convert the hilly land here to grow Dien grapefruit, initially only 50 hectares. From 2011 to 2015, due to letting the trees flower and pollinate naturally, some years they were successful, some years they were not, people called it "circle-set grapefruit".

Later, scientists experimented with additional pollination and intercropped sour grapefruit with Dien grapefruit to cross-pollinate, ending the problem of “circuited grapefruit”. When grapefruit productivity and output increased, there was a shortage of grapefruit because many other regions also planted too much Dien grapefruit. Thus, the trend of switching to organic grapefruit to improve quality and food safety began in Nam Phuong Tien.

Of the commune's 200 hectares of grapefruit, Nam Phuong Tien Organic Agricultural Cooperative alone has more than 50 hectares, including 3.5 hectares of organic, 20 hectares of organic orientation, and 10 hectares with a growing area code for export to the European market...

Members of the cooperative are thoroughly trained in care, fertilization, and biological spraying. The application of smart electronic stamps has helped trace the origin and make products transparent. Thanks to that, grapefruit trees bring in an average income of 500 - 700 million VND/ha.

Additional pollination for grapefruit. Photo: Duong Dinh Tuong.

Regarding rice products, in Nam Phuong Tien, recently, a unit has applied electronic diary combined with field cameras to manage all stages of the production process in real time. An organic rice production area with an area of ​​35 hectares, with an output of about 400 tons/year, has been formed. However, because the market has difficulty distinguishing between organic rice products and normal rice, in the past, with state support, farmers still followed it, but now that the support is gone, they have stopped. This is something that managers should think about and find a solution for.

There are 6 cooperatives in the commune, but in reality, many have not really played their role because they only organize production or act as focal points to receive support from programs, but have not been able to consume products for members. However, there is a cooperative outside the area that, when realizing the potential of organic agriculture in Nam Phuong Tien, decided to invest.

Ms. Vu Huyen Trang - Director of Chuong My Organic Cooperative used to be an employee of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Chuong My district, but last year she quit her job to focus on organic vegetable production: "Since 2015, I have been producing clean vegetables in Thuy Huong and Hop Dong communes, but I have been working both internally and externally until 2023 when I quit the government, changed the name of the cooperative to Chuong My Organic Cooperative, and chose Nam Phuong Tien commune as the second production area.

Harvesting vegetables in Nam Phuong Tien. Photo: Duong Dinh Tuong.

Recently, the Institute of Agricultural Planning and Design came to Nam Phuong Tien to survey the transition to ecological agriculture. Ecological agriculture is based on minimizing the use of chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides. Nam Phuong Tien has all the conditions for ecological agricultural production because it has protective forests, upstream streams, and a diversity of crops: forest trees on the mountains, fruit trees and vegetables interspersed below.

Ms. Trang has invested in building greenhouses and net houses for the villagers, provided fertilizers and biological products, and assigned people to directly guide them on techniques and purchase the products. The cooperative has developed nearly 2 hectares of vegetables in the organic conversion phase and plans to expand to at least 5 more hectares.

The unit's vegetable output is still quite modest, just over 100kg per day, but the selling price is quite high, averaging 35,000 VND/kg with the output being large schools and hotel and restaurant chains in Hanoi.

Ms. Trang excitedly told me about her plan in the near future when producing and combining eco-tourism experiences into a chain, in which she links with schools to organize tours for students to grow vegetables, pick grapefruit, harvest the products, and process them directly on the spot. At that time, visitors to Bu Hill of Nam Phuong Tien will not only come for the parachuting but also for the very special organic products.

Source: https://nongsanviet.nongnghiep.vn/chuyen-nong-nghiep-sinh-thai-duoi-chan-doi-bu-d412735.html