Agriculture is the largest water consuming industry in Vietnam, with a total water volume of about 93 billion m3, accounting for 80.6% of the total water used each year, while the figure in the world is only 70%. In the context of increasingly severe climate change and the risk of water shortages, the model of "High-tech industrial-scale concentrated dairy farming and milk processing" of TH Group has become a typical example in applying high technology to use natural resources economically and effectively; contributing to protecting nature and ensuring sustainable agricultural development.
“Green flow” at TH - the source of the process from green pastures to clean fresh milk
Located in the lower reaches of Sao River, on the Phu Quy plateau of Nghe An, is a concentrated dairy farm, applying high technology with a scale of nearly 70 thousand cows of TH Group. In agricultural production in general and especially for a group producing agricultural products applying high technology, science and technology and management science intertwined like TH, water resources are of special importance. Therefore, TH Group has chosen a location right in the south of Sao River Lake to build farms and factories. The gentle river becomes a natural source of birth, nourishment and creation of new vitality for a land in the West of Nghe An.
Consistently following the closed process of “from green pasture to clean glass of milk”, at TH farm, cows always enjoy the cleanest and purest water source according to the highest standards for domestic water QCVN 01 – 2009/BYT. This result is thanks to a humane decision of the head of TH Group - Labor Hero Thai Huong.
She affirmed: “When it comes to agriculture, we have to talk about Mother Nature. If we want to do good and sustainable agriculture, we have to protect Mother Nature. Therefore, when building a strategy for TH, from the beginning we have oriented towards a green economy, a circular economy, a closed production chain, inheriting the world's development achievements in science and technology, management science, and artificial intelligence interwoven together to create the best product quality and production costs. We must promote all the advantages of Vietnamese agriculture to strongly integrate Vietnamese agricultural products into the international market.”
In 2010, when the project first came into operation, in order to have enough thousands of cubic meters of water per day for the cows, while waiting for the completion of the clean water plant that TH invested in building, TH farm chose to buy water at Thai Hoa water plant, the only place that provided qualified domestic water in Nghia Dan at that time. That is, the enterprise accepted to spend more money, buying domestic water for use in dairy farming with the purpose of ensuring the health of the cows, so that the cows can give the best fresh milk, contributing to bringing the quality of the enterprise's final products to the market that meet international standards, and for the health of the community.
More specifically, TH agrees to spend a huge amount of money to support Thai Hoa water plant in terms of both human and material resources with the sole purpose of ensuring enough water for the cows at any time of the day.
“From Thai Hoa water plant to the farms within a radius of 20km, there is no water supply. We have organized convoys of tankers to continuously transport water, and arranged staff at many locations to receive water. We also support the water plant with pumps and generators to ensure that water is supplied 24/7, and even have to send staff to operate the generators for a while to ensure clean water is supplied to the farms... In addition, we regularly control the water source at both ends and have sealed and lead-sealed water tanks to ensure that the trucks only transport water and not other materials,” said Mr. Nguyen Vinh Son, Director of Maintenance Department - TH Milk Food Joint Stock Company.
Not only is clean water important in ensuring the production of international standard fresh milk, it is also very important in the transportation and distribution of fresh milk. Mr. Vijay Kumar Pandey - Chairman of the Board of Directors of TH Milk Food Joint Stock Company shared: "We use clean water in all our processes. We are extremely careful and always make sure that the cows must use the cleanest and safest water source".
In 2011, the group's first domestic water treatment plant was completed and put into operation, helping TH to be self-sufficient in water sources for production. All water is taken from Sao River Lake and treated according to the domestic water standards QCVN 01 - 2009 / BYT of the Ministry of Health. Currently, TH Group owns 3 domestic water plants with a total capacity of 14,500 m3 / day and night. The plants use Amiad - Israel technology, which is the world's leading modern domestic water treatment technology today, 100% automatic.
Applying advanced technology, returning water to Mother Nature in the kindest way
Not only focusing on domestic and operational water treatment, TH also focuses on wastewater treatment, applying the most advanced wastewater treatment technologies today to return safe, standard water back to nature, ensuring a sustainable development of high-tech agriculture.
At the farm's cluster III, the wastewater treatment system with a capacity of 1,200 m3/day and night is the largest and most complete dairy farm wastewater treatment system in Vietnam to date. With Dutch technology and designed and installed by Aqua.mps, the treated wastewater meets QCVN 62/BTNMT standards and will be sent through an automatic monitoring system and results sent to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment every 5 minutes.
According to Mr. Pham Vinh Son, this is the first and only factory in Vietnam that can comprehensively process dairy waste. The operation saves maximum manpower and can be controlled by an app on the phone. All solids after treatment can be used as organic fertilizer.
With this system, the time from the time the wastewater enters until it is completely treated is 20 days, completely breaking down the pollution. This treated and qualified wastewater is used as cooling water for barns, cows, returned to the fields to irrigate crops or returned to the standard water to nature - Song Sao Lake.
Thus, Song Sao Lake - still cool and fresh for many years - is both a source of water and a place to receive treated wastewater back into nature. This cycle is the answer to TH Group's investment in wastewater treatment: Receive from where, return there and return properly because it will continue to be exploited and used.
Mr. Luong Van Anh - Deputy Director of the Department of Irrigation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, commented that this is a synchronous solution for water treatment and circulation, and doing this means reducing costs and increasing productivity.
Firmly pursuing sustainable development, TH continues to invest in building two wastewater treatment systems with a capacity of 2,500 m3/day and night at farm cluster I and 2,000 m3 /day and night at farm cluster II to meet the needs of farm expansion. It is expected that these systems will be put into operation by the end of 2023 and early 2024, fully meeting the wastewater treatment needs of the farm clusters.
With two natural surface water sources around the farms, Song Sao Lake and Khe Canh Dam, since the farm cluster started operating, TH has had sustainable protection solutions: establishing a monitoring team, surveying the quality of surface water sources within the scope of the water pumping station. Water sampling and water quality assessment are carried out regularly and continuously every day, especially for the surface water of Khe Canh Dam. This is a lake that both stores water and prevents floods, so monitoring must be carried out every 3 months to determine water quality and regulate production to avoid affecting the lake.
“One of the requirements for high-tech agriculture is the issue of irrigation associated with surface water and groundwater. There must be a method of using water for agriculture in a balanced way so that the water is not polluted, then we will have a guaranteed water source for agriculture” - Former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Dang Hung Vo commented.
Assessing TH's responsibility towards the environment, Mr. Phan Tien Hai - Standing Deputy Secretary of Nghia Dan District Party Committee said: We see that TH Group has made great efforts and determination, always choosing the most advanced technologies to handle environmental issues. We have witnessed TH's applied technologies to handle the environment such as the Dutch Aqua technology. Along with that, TH also always attaches importance to investing in landscape and plants to ensure green, clean and beautiful environment.
Cherish every drop of water…
With the motto of “cherishing Mother Nature”, TH has carefully saved every drop of water in each stage of the entire process of creating pure white milk. In TH’s sunflower, corn, sorghum and grass fields, the group has invested in 15 automatic irrigation systems, including 13 “giant arms” PIVOT from 500-700m long, integrated with effective fertilization features and 2 automatic REEL HOSE irrigation systems with Italian technology capable of flexibly controlling the amount of irrigation water to suit each type of terrain.
In addition, the farm also uses smart applications to measure soil moisture such as Israel's Motes or America's Hobolink. These applications will determine soil moisture and recommend the appropriate amount of irrigation water to provide the correct and sufficient water needs for crops in each stage of development. According to Mr. Luong Van Anh, Deputy Director of the Department of Irrigation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, this is the optimal way to save water resources in production. "Advanced irrigation technology like TH saves maximum water and labor, only using 1-2 people to control irrigation of large fields, the irrigation density is very uniform compared to manual irrigation, and the time and timing are very precise, ensuring maximum plant growth."
With outstanding thinking, pioneering the application of science and technology, combined management science, and utilizing the world's terminal technology, TH has successfully built a model of "High-tech industrial-scale concentrated dairy farming and milk processing". In 2020, TH farm was recognized by the World Record Alliance as "The world's largest cluster of high-tech concentrated farms with a closed production process".
For the first and only time up to now, a world record in dairy farming has been set in Vietnam, demonstrating the superiority in investment thinking and the spirit of service of a patriotic business - entrepreneur. This is a proud achievement of the high-tech agricultural production of Vietnam and the world.
Following the success in Nghe An, TH has been expanding the high-tech dairy farming model to produce sweet milk in many localities across the country such as Thanh Hoa, Da Lat, Phu Yen, An Giang... And especially, this model is also invested by TH Group in the Russian Federation. TH has become a typical example bringing many successful lessons in applying high technology in the agricultural sector, recognized and highly appreciated by international friends as a business that always cherishes Mother Nature in every step of its journey.
In particular, with the respect, efficient use and conservation of water resources, the “green flow - clean farm” at TH will be a bright spot of knowledge-based agriculture, circular agriculture, on the path of sustainable development that the whole world is aiming for.
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