Located in a locality with typical salty and sour soil, Quang Phuc Agricultural Production, Trading and Service Cooperative (Quang Xuong) has developed local specialties into commodities. Thanks to the application of technical advances in production, the two products of the cooperative, fish sauce and sedge mats, have been recognized as 4-star and 3-star provincial OCOP products, thereby expanding the market.
Quang Phuc is a purely agricultural commune in the low-lying area of Quang Xuong district, including nearly 400 hectares of sedge land, distributed in the lower reaches of Hoang River and Yen River with daily tides. This place has a traditional occupation of sedge growing, mat weaving and crab fishing. Considered a dynamic cooperative of the province, the cooperative has cooperated with the people, at the same time developing sedge purchasing activities, purchasing mat weaving machines, and salting crab according to traditional recipes. The production of the people is still small and fragmented, so the cooperative has connected the people to organize the production of sedge mats, crab sauce and processing crab products on a larger and more concentrated scale.
Local sedge growing areas are also combined with the farming of clams and earthworms. Every year, people in the commune harvest nearly 8,000 tons of raw sedge and more than 700 tons of clams - a rich source of raw materials for the cooperative to develop production and business all year round.
Currently, in Quang Phuc commune, 5/6 villages still maintain mat weaving as their main occupation, including: Ngoc Binh, Van Giao, Ngoc Doi, Ngoc Nhi and Lien Son. Quang Phuc sedge mats are highly durable and flexible because the sedge is grown in slightly salty water, the sedge plants do not break or explode. The whole commune has more than 200 mat weaving machines, of which the cooperative members have about 200 machines, supplying the market with 80,000 mat leaves of all kinds every day. The annual output of dried split sedge in the whole commune reaches 4,800 tons, of which 2,000 tons are sold to the market, worth about 24 billion VND, the rest is used to make sedge mats, supplying the market with 4,800,000 mat leaves each year, worth nearly 100 billion VND.
Mr. Le Van Bang, Director of Quang Phuc Agricultural Production, Business and Service Cooperative, said: “In the current trend, the issue of sustainable agricultural development is given top priority. The application of agricultural practices in farming, then the preservation of products for processing plays a leading role, connecting producers with the market. That is the orientation and work that our cooperative is doing. In fact, consumers are increasingly smart and careful when choosing food, as well as consumer goods, so the fish sauce and sedge mats here have quite fully met the needs of consumers.”
After 3 years of operation, the Cooperative has invested in a modern machinery system to weave mats instead of manual labor; applied production processes and improved technical skills for workers to improve product quality to meet the requirements of today's consumers, not only beautiful in appearance, ensuring quality, natural and environmentally friendly.
The local government has always closely monitored and strongly directed the cooperative to improve the production process, increase the application of science and technology in sedge and clam farming; implement planning and develop clean raw material areas, and completely replace chemical fertilizers in sedge growing areas so as not to affect the growth of clams.
Currently, the Cooperative's OCOP products have been distributed through official commercial channels and are present in the national market. This is also the basis for the unit to continue investing in machinery, applying modern science and technology, especially green production in farming and exploiting products from the salty and sour soil of the homeland.
Article and photos: Le Dong
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