Nam Dinh farmers pick up trash - discarded items turn into organic fertilizer, saving a lot of money

Producing organic fertilizer from spoiled vegetables and rotten fruits

Instead of throwing organic waste into the environment like before, for many years now, farmers in Hai Anh commune, Hai Hau district, Nam Dinh province have known how to take advantage of this organic waste to produce organic fertilizer at home.

Nông dân Nam Định sản xuất phân hữu cơ: — Mr. Tran Thai Hoc, Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Hai Anh Commune (Hai Hau District, Nam Dinh Province) instructs farmers on how to water with biological products during the process of producing organic fertilizers. Photo: Mai Chien.

Mr. Tran Thai Hoc, Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Hai Anh Commune, boasted to me that thanks to the intensified propaganda work, following the motto "slow and steady wins the race", people in the commune gradually changed their thinking, actively implemented and participated in the model of "Classifying household waste at source".

People have become aware of classifying household waste, taking advantage of spoiled vegetables, rotten fruits, etc. to produce organic fertilizer for plants. Thereby, reducing the amount of waste from households to centralized waste treatment areas, reducing production costs, and not having to buy inorganic fertilizers, etc.

"In 2021, the model was deployed and widely implemented throughout the commune. Up to now, people in 24/24 hamlets have participated in the model, strictly complying with the classification of household waste at source," Mr. Hoc shared.

Mr. Hoc added that up to now, the commune has 1,800 bins and about 600 covered pits for producing organic fertilizer. On average, each family has 1 bin or 1 covered pit for processing organic waste into organic fertilizer.

Following the Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Hai Anh commune on a tour around the commune, we noticed that the rural landscape here is as beautiful as a painting; the traffic infrastructure, internal irrigation, and rivers and canals are all very clean, with no littering.

Household waste is dumped into two plastic bins with different markings. One bin contains inorganic waste, and the other bin contains organic waste for compost production.

Mrs. Tran Thi Nga’s family (Hamlet 3, Hai Anh Commune) has a small garden in front of her house. She mainly grows water spinach, Malabar spinach, mustard greens, etc. for her family’s own use.

Over the years, with the guidance and help of the Commune Farmers’ Association officials, she has learned how to produce organic fertilizer from organic waste. Thanks to that, she has limited the use of inorganic fertilizers, saving production costs...

She said the method of producing organic fertilizer in plastic containers is very simple. Leftover vegetables, easily decomposable leaves, etc. are all poured into the plastic container, then watered with biological products. After 30 days, the organic waste decomposes into fertilizer, which is then taken out to fertilize vegetables and plants in the garden.

"Since knowing how to make organic fertilizer, my family no longer has to buy inorganic fertilizers for vegetables. From there, we save on production costs, the soil is loose and does not become discolored," Ms. Nga concluded.

100% of communes and towns implement the model

With the support of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union, in 2018, the Nam Dinh Farmers' Union implemented the model of "Classifying household waste and treating organic waste as fertilizer at households" in Hai Ly commune (old), now Con town, Hai Hau district.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa, Vice President of the Farmers' Association of Hai Hau district, Nam Dinh province, said that by participating in the model, farmers will gain knowledge and skills on waste classification and treatment of organic waste as fertilizer for plants grown at home.

In addition, farmers have also raised their awareness and sense of responsibility in preserving and protecting the environment. Thanks to that, the amount of waste released into the environment has been reduced, contributing to preserving the landscape, keeping the environment green, clean, and beautiful...

"Classifying household waste at source helps save resources; reduce pollution, the amount of waste in the community released into the environment to reduce the burden on the environment, save collection, transportation and treatment costs. Raise public awareness about protecting and rationally using resources and the environment," Ms. Hoa shared about the benefits of classifying waste at source.

With the goal of the model being "covered" throughout the district, in August 2020, the Farmers' Association of Hai Hau district launched the movement "Collecting, classifying and processing soft waste into organic fertilizer at households", encouraging households to use plastic bins to treat waste; continue to maintain the effectiveness and replicate the model of collecting, classifying and processing soft waste at households.

From the pilot model in Hai Ly commune (old), up to now 100% of communes and towns in Hai Hau district have the model and implemented it very effectively, creating a spreading effect in the residential community in Hai Hau.

According to statistics, Hai Hau district has 48,364 bins and pits with lids treated with microorganisms and over 30,000 organic waste pits in households, contributing to building a model new rural family, hamlet/group "Bright - green - clean - beautiful for sustainable development", speeding up the progress of building advanced and model new rural areas in the district.

According to Ms. Hoa, in recent years, Farmers' Associations at all levels in Hai Hau district have actively and proactively coordinated closely with agencies, departments, and organizations to propagate and mobilize union members and people to actively participate in environmental protection and participate in the model of "Classifying household waste at source".

"Farmers' Associations at all levels regularly instruct households to use two trash bins for sorting at home, including inorganic and organic trash bins, with clearly marked trash bins.

For organic waste, households only need to collect organic waste in covered bins, use additional biological products, and compost after 30 days to decompose into agricultural fertilizer, providing nutrients for plants, maintaining soil fertility and improving productivity and quality of agricultural products.

For inorganic waste, after being sorted at households, a garbage collection team will come to each household and facility to collect it and gather it at a gathering point for environmental sanitation service vehicles to transport it to a centralized waste treatment area and treat it with a specialized incinerator," Ms. Hoa confided.

Nam Dinh Farmers' Association informed that up to now, the model of "Collecting, classifying and processing organic waste into fertilizer at households" has been deployed in districts and cities in the province, with 153/170 participating establishments and 1,464/2,006 participating branches.

The number of households participating in the model is 188,219. Of these, 104,841 households process organic waste using plastic bins, and 83,378 households process organic waste using covered pits.

Source: https://danviet.vn/nong-dan-nam-dinh-di-nhat-rac-thu-vut-di-bien-thanh-phan-bon-huu-co-tiet-kiem-khoi-tien-20241011211338416.htm