According to the voice of Vietnam, Jialai province has a large pepper planting area of 17000 hectares, once reaching 18000 hectares. These days, farmers in Jialai province are busy harvesting pepper. Local pepper is planted in a sustainable way, with stable development, while ensuring the profits of pepper farmers.
Ruan Liqiu, a resident of dadewa County, Jialai Province, has planted 5.5 hectares of pepper and is now in the harvest season. She said that by planting organically, the grass in the yard grows naturally and the soil is fertile, which helps to keep the soil moist. Limit the use of chemical fertilizer to the greatest extent, and mainly use coffee shell and beans for fertilization; Chemicals have also been replaced by biological products. The cultivation process must be recorded in the planting diary every day. The acquiring enterprises will order randomly in the park at any time.
If the test sample meets the requirements, the enterprise will purchase it at a price 30% higher than the market price. Ruan Liqiu said that this season, the pepper planting output was 3.5 tons per hectare, lower than that of the previous season, but the price per ton was 110 million Vietnamese Dong, and the profit was higher than that of the previous season. “I chose the direction of organic agriculture to overcome the difficulties caused by climate and disease. Fortunately, an enterprise contacted me to buy organic pepper and export it to Europe. It’s good for me, good for the company, good for the health of the people who work for me and good for the environment,” she said.
In Nanyang Township, two years ago, more than 50 pepper growers jointly set up a group to grow sustainable pollution-free pepper.
Wu Wenxian, leader of the group, said: “participating in the group, farmers share production experience and good practices. Therefore, farmers themselves contact enterprises that provide technology and organic fertilizer to obtain the lowest price. Similarly, output is also selected by farmers and unnecessary costs are removed through intermediaries. Due to organic production, the price of products is twice that of other products”. Wu Wenxian said that the transformation from traditional mode to high-tech and cleaner production cannot be achieved overnight, but “take your time”.
This is a revolution to change thinking. If successful, farmers will be in an active position, rely less on external factors, and reduce the risks of price fluctuations, input costs and so on.
Talking about the pepper planting mode of farmers’ cooperation, Ruan attack, director of Nanyang agricultural and service cooperative, said that in 2018, the cooperative had 15 members and a pepper planting area of more than 50 hectares. At the beginning, it was difficult to mobilize residents to join the cooperative, but after a period of activities, the price of pepper sold by the cooperative increased to 1.5-2 times, and the residents actively joined. In particular, the cooperative also contacted two enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City and was responsible for all sales of products.
At present, the cooperative has a pepper planting area of 80 hectares, of which more than 40 hectares are planted organically, which meets the export standards and is sold to countries with strict quality requirements.
Duan Yuyou, deputy director of the Department of agriculture and rural development of Jialai Province, said that at present, the total area of pepper planting in Jialai province is 1360 hectares. This year’s output is 3.37 tons per hectare. Since 2017, the planting area of pepper has been stable and developing in a sustainable direction.
It is gratifying that in the past two years, the price of pepper has risen from 75000 Vietnamese Dong to more than 80000 Vietnamese Dong per kilogram, but there has been no cutting of other crops to grow pepper. Duan Yuyou believes that careful investment in organic pepper cultivation and conversion of farming methods have helped farmers obtain a stable income. “In order to improve efficiency, the former pepper growing areas have been changed to other crops. The remaining pepper areas are currently under stable development, production has shifted to standardization and sustainability, and crop diseases and pests have been reduced. Therefore, productivity and yield are stable,” he said.
Growing pepper in a sustainable organic way will never lose money. The cost and initial conditions may be high, but once successful, the effect is good. In this way, farmers in Jialai province will have more bumper crops.
Source: Vietnam people’s daily
Post time: Apr-27-2022