Organic pepper growing cooperative with price of 15 million VND/kg

BA RIA - VUNG TAU Persistently growing pepper that has achieved domestic and international organic certifications, seedless Bau May pepper products cost 15 million VND/kg, salted green pepper costs 900,000 VND/kg...

Bau May pepper has gained a foothold in the pepper market thanks to persistent cultivation according to organic standards. Photo: Nguyen Thuy.

"Father" of Bau May pepper variety

Established in 2015 with 12 initial members, to date, Bau May Agriculture - Trade - Tourism Cooperative (Hoa Hiep commune, Xuyen Moc district, Ba Ria - Vung Tau province) has linked 1,000 members across provinces and cities to develop agriculture, including promoting the development of pepper plants from Bau May pepper variety.

This is a pepper variety that Mr. Lam Ngoc Nham, Director of Bau May Agricultural - Trade - Tourism Cooperative, is the "father" of, and has experimented, researched, and created for more than 20 years.

“The Bau May pepper variety has a root system that is many times larger and stronger than other varieties. Roots will grow wherever the vine is cut. Mature pepper has evenly distributed buds, is drought-resistant, disease-resistant, and has a very high yield of 10 to 12 tons/ha, stable over the years,” said Mr. Lam Ngoc Nham, adding that the Bau May pepper variety has been registered for trademark protection at the Department of Intellectual Property (Ministry of Science and Technology).

Realizing that Ba Ria - Vung Tau has good climate and soil to grow pepper plants, but farmers keep planting and cutting, planting again, the farming process is each person doing their own thing, especially the use of chemicals and herbicides that have affected the soil, water and environment, so right from the establishment of the cooperative, Mr. Lam Ngoc Nham has built an organic farming process to be able to achieve organic certification in Vietnam and internationally, thereby convincing people to follow.

“The “family” organic farming method is actually only based on what our ancestors did before chemical fertilizers and pesticides were not popular, but in fact it is not strange at all,” Mr. Nham said with a smile.

According to Mr. Nham, organic farming must "say no" to chemical fertilizers and pesticides, combined with the application of scientific and technical advances to improve productivity and efficiency of crop production such as investing in drip irrigation systems, drip fertilizer injection systems, composting from garden by-products, etc.

Mr. Nham said that at first, when establishing the cooperative, it was not easy to convince people to switch to organic farming instead of traditional farming methods.

When switching to organic farming, productivity will not be as good as before. Therefore, many people have given up. To convince people to do organic farming, Mr. Nham had to show them evidence that the land when farming organically is increasingly fertile; the health of themselves and their families is guaranteed when no chemicals are used in production.

Ant nests are "guard posts" to prevent pests and diseases from harming the organic pepper garden of Bau May Agricultural - Trade - Tourism Cooperative. Photo: Nguyen Thuy.

“Many people build houses in their gardens, but use pesticides and chemical fertilizers. It may not be visible at first, but over time, their own family's health will be affected. After listening to the analysis, people have also changed and gradually switched to organic farming. Farmers participating in the cooperative have begun to master organic farming methods, so the quality of pepper supplied to the market is guaranteed,” said Mr. Nham.

Ecosystem balance

To increase crop yield, Mr. Lam Ngoc Nham researched and used homemade organic fertilizer from egg embryos combined with milk and crab to fertilize pepper plants. In particular, in the pepper garden, he made "protective posts" on the plants, for beneficial natural enemies to reside, thereby balancing the ecosystem, contributing to controlling pests in the garden.

With more than 30 years of experience in agriculture, Mr. Lam Van Tam (member of Bau May Agricultural - Trade - Service Cooperative) chose pepper as the main crop and started converting to organic farming 6 years ago with an area of ​​3 hectares.

According to Mr. Tam, in previous years, the price of organic fertilizer was high, so farmers could not afford to invest. "Necessity is the mother of invention", cooperative members like him make their own fertilizer from composting goat manure and fish manure to fertilize crops, and instead of burning the leaves, they compost them into the roots. Thanks to that, his garden has good productivity, and the cooperative guarantees the consumption of pepper after harvest.

Mr. Lam Van Tam (member of Bau May Agricultural - Trade - Service Cooperative) checks for pests on pepper plants. Photo: Nguyen Thuy.

Taking us on a tour around the farm, Mr. Nham said that normally, if we only grow pepper, we are wasting the land below. On average, 1 hectare yields about 5 tons of pepper, and if well cared for, it can yield about 8 - 12 tons. Meanwhile, the same hectare, if pepper is intercropped with Chinese yam (yam), will yield an additional 30 - 60 tons of Chinese yam/ha, and farmers' income will increase significantly. Therefore, the cooperative has been intercropping organic pepper with Chinese yam for many years, creating clean, sustainable agricultural products, ensuring food safety and hygiene, and bringing high profits to farmers.

According to Mr. Nham, intercropping helps create a vegetation cover like a roof for beneficial microorganisms to reside, prevent erosion, and control weeds. Besides, it helps retain moisture, creating underground water sources when the Chinese yam forms tubers at a depth of 60cm to 1.2m. This is considered the best solution to keep pepper plants growing sustainably.

Organic seedless pepper 15 million VND/kg

Thanks to its compliance with organic farming standards from the beginning, by 2017, Bau May Agricultural - Trade - Tourism Cooperative was granted the international certification GlobalGAP (global good agricultural practices) for its pepper growing area, and in 2018, achieved ISO 22000:2018 on food safety management system.

“100% of Bau May pepper meets Vietnamese organic standards and international organic standards USDA, EU, JAS. In addition, to ensure that domestic and foreign consumers use genuine products, we have also built a traceability management system, exclusive Bau May brand and FDA certification issued by the US Food and Drug Administration,” Mr. Nham informed.

To bring Bau May pepper to the market, Mr. Lam Ngoc Nham also established Bau May Agriculture - Trade - Tourism Joint Stock Company and researched and invested in machinery and processing technology such as inventing a greenhouse to dry pepper completely naturally with sunlight after harvest, bringing the highest nutritional value to the finished pepper.

Since then, Mr. Nham has created many different product lines to increase the value of organic Bau May pepper and organic Chinese yam products such as seedless pepper, milk pepper, one-sun pepper, salted fresh pepper, Chinese yam vermicelli... In particular, Bau May seedless pepper products cost 15 million VND/kg, salted green pepper 900,000 VND/kg, milk pepper 2.2 million VND/kg, one-sun pepper 2 million VND/kg, salted fresh pepper 950,000 VND/kg.

Currently, Bau May's organic pepper products have been exported to Japan, Korea, Dubai, the US and continue to promote export to Russia and China.

Organic pepper and Chinese yam products of Bau May Agricultural - Trade - Service Cooperative. Photo: Nguyen Thuy.

According to Mr. Nham, today's success is due to the efforts and perseverance of him and the members of the cooperative, working together to ensure production meets quality requirements and product consumption for farmers in Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Dong Nai, Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Gia Lai, Lam Dong, Binh Phuoc, Thua Thien - Hue, Quang Tri on a total area of ​​2,500 hectares of Chinese yam and 1,750 hectares of organic Bau May pepper, bringing high economic profits.

According to Mr. Nguyen Phong Vu, Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Hoa Hiep Commune (Xuyen Moc District, Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province), the agricultural production area in the commune is mainly perennial crops such as pepper, rubber, cashew and fruit trees such as avocado, longan, durian. Of which, the pepper growing area in Hoa Hiep Commune is about 2,000 hectares.

According to Mr. Vu, the locality is currently encouraging farmers to switch to organic farming, circular economy, "following nature" and developing more organic pepper growing areas. However, people are still worried about the difficulty of finding outlets for organic products, so they are not interested. In the commune, the most prominent is Bau May Agricultural - Service - Trade Cooperative, which cultivates using organic methods.

Source: https://nongsanviet.nongnghiep.vn/hop-tac-xa-trong-tieu-huu-co-gia-15-trieu-dong-kg-d387107.html