Risking planting bamboo like a copper pot and stone mortar, two Tay Ninh farmers unexpectedly hit it big

Mr. Vo Van Noi - Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Long Giang Commune, Ben Cau District (Tay Ninh Province) said that up to now, people in the commune have only been familiar with producing traditional crops such as rice, cassava, and other crops; raising pigs, cows, and poultry, with low economic efficiency.

After each harvest, farmers do not make much profit, especially households with small land areas find it difficult to develop their family economy from farming.

In 2022, two old farmers boldly switched from rice to bamboo shoots. At that time, some people thought that these old farmers wasted their time choosing bamboo for economic purposes.

However, in less than a year, the bamboo roots of Mr. Vo Van Tiep and Nguyen Van Dung in Cao Su hamlet began to grow many bamboo shoots, bringing in significant income.

Mr. Vo Van Tiep (74 years old) said that his family has 17,000 square meters of agricultural land. Every year, he sows two rice crops. If the rice is good and has a good price, after deducting expenses, he still makes a profit of about 30 million VND.

“I have been farming for so many years without getting rich. At over 70 years old, I probably can't get rich. But I think I have to change, get away from traditional crops to see if I can get better.

Ở Tây Ninh có 2 ông nông dân đều chuyển sang trồng

Good quality bamboo shoots in the bamboo garden of Mr. Vo Van Tiep, a farmer in Cau Khoi commune, Ben Cau district, Tay Ninh province.

Luckily, he saw on Facebook that a farmer in Cau Khoi commune was growing bamboo shoots with high economic efficiency, so he invited Mr. Dung to visit and learn from his experience. When he arrived, he was so fascinated by the bamboo garden and heard the garden owner say it was very economically effective, so he decided to buy some seeds to plant," Mr. Tiep shared.

After the field trip, Mr. Tiep bought 150 four-season bamboo seedlings to plant on an area of 2,000 m2. With the belief in success from growing bamboo for shoots, he spent a lot of time learning through books and newspapers about how to care for and harvest bamboo so that it can grow and produce good shoots continuously.

He has researched and self-grafted and planted 100 more trees. It has been more than a year now and he is currently harvesting the first batch of bamboo shoots.

Mr. Tiep said that he harvested 150 bamboo trees in 2022 10 times a month, each time 50 kg, traders came to his house to buy 15,000 VND/kg (sometimes 25,000 VND/kg). For the bamboo garden planted in 2023, he harvested 5-10 kg of bamboo shoots every day for his wife to retail at the market.

On average, with the price of 15,000 VND/kg of bamboo shoots, he earns over 10 million VND per month. With only 3,000m2 of land growing bamboo for bamboo shoots, Mr. Tiep earns over 120 million VND per year, 4 times more than growing rice on an area of 17,000m2.

Mr. Nguyen Van Dung's (60 years old) bamboo garden is 5,000 square meters wide, planted at the same time as Mr. Tiep's bamboo. Because it is planted on mounds, the bamboo shoot yield is not as good as Mr. Tiep's garden, but compared to growing cassava or rice, the profit is 2-3 times higher.

In the years Mr. Dung grew cassava, after 6 months he earned 10-15 million VND. Growing bamboo shoots is the same area as growing cassava, but each month he earns over 15 million VND.

According to Mr. Dung, growing bamboo for bamboo shoots requires very little care, no weeding, no pesticides, organic fertilizer is applied three times a year and just enough to nourish the mother bamboo. Therefore, growers do not have to spend time "visiting the field" every day like growing rice.

But for bamboo to grow well and produce shoots all year round, the important thing that Mr. Dung and Mr. Tiep shared from practical experience is the technique of cutting the shoots.

Do not cut the bamboo shoots higher than the ground. If the remaining bamboo shoots are too high, the later shoots will protrude more above the ground and the quality of the bamboo shoots will not be good. In addition, straw or bamboo leaves must be placed at the base to keep it moist. In the dry season, water must be provided to keep the bamboo green and lush so that there will be many bamboo shoots.

According to Mr. Vo Van Noi - Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Long Giang Commune, there is currently a household growing bamboo for bamboo shoots but the efficiency is not high due to improper care. In the coming time, the Farmers' Association of the commune will coordinate with the District Agricultural Extension Station to organize a workshop to introduce crops with high economic efficiency, including growing bamboo for bamboo shoots.

In addition to knowledge from agricultural experts, the Farmers' Association of Cau Khoi Commune, Ben Cau District, (Tay Ninh Province) will organize field trips for people to learn from experience and replicate the model of growing bamboo for bamboo shoots to improve the family economy of members, especially households with small land areas, land for growing rice, cassava or other ineffective crops will switch to growing bamboo for bamboo shoots.

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