In a commune of Thai Binh province, farmers grow all kinds of vegetables all year round and earn 500

500 - 600 million VND/ha/year, an income that sounds unbelievable but is true in the vegetable growing area of ​​Trung An commune (Vu Thu, Thai Binh). Vegetable growing has helped many farmers here become millionaires, some are even known as "vegetable growing kings".

Thai Binh farmers get rich from growing vegetables

Coming to Trung An at this time, everywhere in the fields you can see people busy harvesting, caring for, and planting new vegetables, but the most popular is still the green color of lettuce.

Mr. Vu Van Thuat, An Loc village, with more than 20 years of experience growing vegetables, has become one of the millionaires, the famous "vegetable king" in the whole region. Mr. Thuat confided: Perhaps understanding the hardships of farmers, after storm No. 3, the weather was more peaceful. The vegetable fields are also more lush. Vegetables have a good harvest and good prices, so everyone is excited to stick to the fields, stick to the fields, not letting the land rest. In the vegetable-growing area, people rotate 8-9 times, giving a value 7-10 times higher than rice cultivation, so everyone competes to increase the crop. Realizing the effectiveness of clean farming, in the past 5 years, Mr. Thuat has accumulated nearly 3 hectares of VietGAP vegetable fields, creating stable jobs for 20 workers aged 55-70 with an income of 7 million VND/person/month.

As for farmer Phung Van So, An Loc village, vegetables have helped his family have a prosperous life. To grow more than 4 hectares of green vegetables all year round, he and his wife stay in the fields from early morning. Mr. So said: Farming is very hard work, but in return, you will have "savings" if you love the fields. In the past, every time you harvest, selling products was very difficult, sometimes you had to sell them at a loss or not sell them at all. Since joining the Trung An commune green agricultural production and business cooperative, my family no longer worries about product output.

In addition to the commonly grown vegetables such as lettuce, corn lettuce, and herbs, this winter crop, my family introduced two new varieties: cherry tomatoes on 4 sao and Japanese cucumbers on 5 sao with production links according to VietGAP standards, and guaranteed output. After deducting expenses, it also brought the family a revenue of more than 500 million VND/ha.

The VietGAP vegetable beds of Mr. Vu Van Thuan's family are ready for harvest.

Vegetables achieve 3-star OCOP product

Mr. Trinh Van Dieu, Director of the Trung An Commune Green Agricultural Production and Business Cooperative, said: The vegetable growing area of ​​Trung An Commune with 40 hectares is grown by farmers according to market demand, so the products are consumed quickly and have high economic value. Each season has its own plants, Trung An farmers do not let the land rest, so the fields are green all year round. The boundary between the main spring-summer, summer-autumn and winter crops is blurred every year, because the people here continuously rotate, intercrop, overlap or grow off-season vegetables.

In 2022, with the support of the agricultural sector, Trung An commune will plan and build a safe vegetable production area according to VietGAP standards with an area of ​​10 hectares, with about 70 households participating in production according to a closed chain. In 2023, the curly lettuce product was assessed by the OCOP District Product Evaluation and Classification Council to meet 3-star standards, and was included in the Go supermarket chain system and Vincom supermarket in Thai Binh.

As a person passionate about safe food, after many years of researching and learning how to grow vegetables that meet VietGAP and organic standards..., Mr. Vu Van Thuan - one of the curly lettuce growers who met 3-star OCOP standards in An Loc village has successfully applied advanced technology with a greenhouse system to produce safe vegetables.

Mr. Thuan's goal is to change the mindset of clean farming households to create delicious products, traceable origin, ensuring food safety but still imbued with the Trung An region's vegetables. Currently, in addition to the area of ​​curly lettuce achieving 3-star OCOP products, nearly 3 hectares of vegetables of his family are produced according to VietGAP standards.

In early November, in the fields of lettuce, corn lettuce, herbs..., Trung An people meticulously pick grass, catch worms by hand or use garlic, chili, ginger preparations to spray pesticides on vegetables. Since growing vegetables according to safe vegetable standards, of which 10 hectares follow VietGAP process, Trung An farmers grow vegetables according to standard processes, the soil is not contaminated, the irrigation water is not polluted, the seeds have clear origins, fertilizers are on the permitted list, no banned chemicals are used and priority is given to herbs or biological products. However, the concern of Mr. Vu Van Thuan as well as many farmers in Trung An commune is that the price of VietGAP vegetables is the same as the price of market vegetables.

Mr. Thuan said: The input cost of growing safe vegetables is the same as that of normal vegetables but it is more difficult, weeding and catching insects is mainly done by hand; soil preparation, fertilizer and pesticides must be approved by the cooperative. However, when harvested, the vegetables cannot be put on supermarket shelves, they must be sold at the market like normal vegetables. It is clear that we grow VietGAP safe vegetables but the price is not commensurate with the effort and the true value of the vegetables.

According to Mr. Trinh Van Dieu, Director of the Trung An Green Agricultural Production and Business Cooperative, thanks to the high value of vegetables, many Trung An farmers are still working hard in the fields and getting rich right on their homeland. Their efforts have been duly rewarded as their living standards have been increasingly improved. However, for the vegetable growing area to develop sustainably, the issue that farmers are most concerned about is the output for the products. Because in the life cycle of vegetables, from planting to entering the kitchen of families, people can only take the initiative in 1/3 of the stages, from planting, fertilizing to harvesting. Post-harvest is almost entirely dependent on traders and the market. Therefore, the Cooperative is cooperating with 2 companies in Hanoi to consume and purchase products for local clean agricultural products. If all production processes are met, it is expected that the 2 enterprises will consume VietGAP vegetables of Trung An from the beginning of 2025 with stable prices.

Source: https://danviet.vn/mot-xa-cua-tinh-thai-binh-nong-dan-quanh-nam-suot-thang-trong-du-loai-rau-ma-thu-500-600-trieu-ha-20241113161831649.htm