Link with medicinal plant growing cooperatives
In a recent meeting with two outstanding female farmers from the US, organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in coordination with the US Embassy in Bac Son commune (Soc Son district, Hanoi), Ms. Nguyen Thanh Tuyen - Deputy Director of the Soc Son Medicinal Plant Conservation and Development Cooperative, said that this area does not have the strength to grow food crops and fruit trees like other localities in Vietnam, but has special advantages to preserve and develop precious medicinal plants.
Among the medicinal herbs being grown at the cooperative, Ms. Tuyen is most fond of golden flower tea and burdock. Burdock is an easy-to-grow plant that often grows wild in disturbed soil.
Burdock fruit and roots contain many minerals such as calcium, iron, vitamins A, B6... so when processed into tea, it is very good for digestion.
Along with tea products, Ms. Tuyen and the cooperative have researched and developed soy sauce products made from burdock and black beans.
The new product was announced in September 2023, but has received positive signals from consumers.
Ms. Nguyen Thu Thoan - Director of Thu Thoan Microbial Chicken Cooperative (Soc Son District, Hanoi) introduces the microbial chicken farming model to typical American farmers. Photo: T.D
In order to preserve and sustainably develop medicinal plant varieties, Hanoi has issued a plan for developing medicinal plants in the area in 2024 - 2025. Accordingly, Hanoi prioritizes the development of 16 medicinal plants including golden tea, honeysuckle, ginseng, cassia, black tea, cat's whiskers, ginseng, perilla, sweet grass, wormwood, basil, mint, chrysanthemum, turmeric, ginger, cordyceps. In addition, depending on the advantages and actual conditions, localities can choose and develop other medicinal plants with strengths, economic value, product output, suitable for climate and soil conditions in local ecological sub-regions, such as: spoon, purple khôi, cajuput tree, wormwood, che vang, male papaya, old coriander, fish mint, pennywort, ginseng, grass jelly...
In previous years, Bac Son commune was often considered a poor rural area of Soc Son district when people mainly developed forestry, grew tea and rice, and had irregular income due to frequent difficulties in output.
Therefore, Soc Son is the leading district in Hanoi in experimentally growing medicinal plants, including burdock, first converting ineffective rice and vegetable growing areas to grow this medicinal plant.
Sharing with us, Mr. Trinh Hong Phong in Phuc Xuan village (Bac Son commune) said that in the past, his family's life depended on the cassava growing area on the hilly land.
However, cassava has low economic value, so Mr. Phong and other households in the village always want to find a new and more effective direction. In recent years, Mr. Phong has leased land to the Soc Son Medicinal Plant Conservation and Development Cooperative to grow medicinal plants, and has also taken care of the garden after conversion. In addition to the annual land rent, Mr. Phong also receives a monthly salary.
It is known that the Soc Son Medicinal Plant Conservation and Development Cooperative is also coordinating with the Soc Son District Farmers' Association to pilot the burdock model in Xuan Thu commune according to the association's work plan and farmers' movement in 2024.
According to the model, after 6 months of implementation, each sao of burdock cultivation brought in an income of 36 - 40 million VND, much higher than rice cultivation, contributing to motivating farmers to expand the area.
Ms. Tuyen said: "Black bean and burdock soy sauce are products that the Cooperative has high expectations for, striving to build into a separate brand of Soc Son district. Currently, the product is being supported by the District People's Committee to complete to participate in the evaluation and classification in the One Commune One Product (OCOP) Program in 2024".
Currently, Soc Son Medicinal Plant Conservation and Development Cooperative has 5 member households, and also signed contracts to purchase products from local households, with an area of tens of hectares.
Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Soc Son district Nguyen Manh Hung said that medicinal plants have been developed by Soc Son people since 2015, but are still small and fragmented.
When the Soc Son Medicinal Plant Conservation and Development Cooperative was established in 2018, purchasing products for the people, medicinal plants gradually gained a "foothold".
"The medicinal plant growing model with the connection between cooperatives and hundreds of farming households has been helping to effectively exploit the value of land in the hilly and semi-mountainous areas of Soc Son. More importantly, it creates livelihoods and brings better income to hundreds of farming households..." - Mr. Hung assessed.
Facilitating high-tech, circular agricultural models
International delegates visit the medicinal plant growing model at the Soc Son Medicinal Plant Conservation and Development Cooperative. Photo: T.D
Visiting the organic chicken and pig farm with thousands of pigs of Thu Thoan Microbial Chicken Cooperative (Minh Phu Commune, Soc Son District, Hanoi), Ms. Nguyen Thu Thoan - Director of the Cooperative said that the farm has an area of nearly 1 hectare, applying the circular agricultural model.
Compared to the conventional farming method that Ms. Thoan used before, the difference and key point of this model is the microbial feed and biological bedding.
Accordingly, during the care process, Ms. Thoan feeds the chickens and pigs with self-fermented food, including grains, vegetable protein mixed with medicinal plants such as Eclipta prostrata, turmeric, angelica sinensis, Phyllanthus urinaria, gac oil...
All are crushed, mixed together, fermented for 24 hours and then fed to the chickens. Thanks to the addition of herbal ingredients to the daily diet, the chickens have good resistance, less disease, and less foul-smelling excrement.
For the treatment of animal manure and waste, Ms. Thoan uses bedding made from rice husks, sawdust mixed with microorganisms, thanks to which, despite raising thousands of animals, the farm has almost no bad smell or flies or mosquitoes.
After use, the pads will be collected and composted into organic fertilizer for vegetable and medicinal plant growing areas, so they will not be discharged into the environment.
"People can visit the natural farm because I raise chickens naturally, letting them run freely in the garden. I also don't use antibiotics, don't cut chicken beaks, and don't clip pig ears.
Normally, chickens can be sold after 3 months of raising, but I usually wait until 5 months to sell so that the chicken can accumulate enough nutrients and herbs, making the chicken meat the most delicious," said Ms. Thoan.
Ms. Thoan said that her farm has been certified organic. Each year, the cooperative sells more than 10,000 chickens at a higher price than normal chickens, not to mention the number of chickens from models associated with the cooperative, but still cannot meet customer demand.
Each year, the farm earns an average revenue of more than 1.5 billion VND. Currently, she has been transferring the technology of raising microbial chickens to many female farmers and people in other provinces and cities to develop the economy together, increase income, and aim to establish a larger clean chicken farming system.
In order to promote the development of cooperative models, forming effective linkage chains such as the cooperatives of Ms. Tuyen, Ms. Thoan..., Soc Son district is also interested in and creating conditions for businesses to invest in agriculture, in which priority is given to ecological agriculture, applying high technology, clean agriculture, organic agriculture associated with processing technology, preserving agricultural products, connecting with product consumption markets, creating a green belt for Hanoi.
According to statistics, up to now, Soc Son district has had 16 high-tech agricultural production models, 76 products recognized as OCOP, 15 production and product consumption chains with high economic efficiency...
Source: https://danviet.vn/nong-dan-mot-huyen-cua-ha-noi-nuoi-con-dac-san-trong-cay-dac-san-kieu-gi-ma-giau-len-20240815174311058.htm
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