Trà Vinh Province farmers embrace technology

Glory morning grown in a net house in Ngũ Lạc Commune in Trà Vinh Province’s Duyên Hải District. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Hoà

TRÀ VINH — More and more farmers in Trà Vinh Province are using safe and hi-tech farming methods to improve the quality of their produce and meet market requirements.

The Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta province has more than 24,300ha of land with hi-tech farming, where rice or vegetables are grown or aquatic species such as shrimp are bred, according to its Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

In Duyên Hải District, farmers in Ngũ Lạc Commune have set up 23 net houses with a total area of 3ha to grow clean vegetables.

Lê Minh Tân, deputy chairman of the commune People’s Committee, said farmers were encouraged to build net houses to improve efficiency.

The net houses are equipped with automatic irrigation facilities which help save labour costs and protect vegetables from inclement weather and pests.

Farmers who build them are given a subsidy of up to VNĐ100 million (US$4,000) for building a 1,000sq.m net and also provided with soft loans.

The profits from vegetables in net house are 30-50 per cent higher than from traditional growing methods because of the lower expenses on labour and fertilisers and pesticides, and increased yields and quality, according to farmers.

Thạch Khanh, who has a 5,000sq.m field on which he grows rice and vegetables in Ngũ Lạc, built a 1,000sq.m net house at a cost of VNĐ100 million ($4,000) to grow morning glory in 2021 with encouragement from local authorities.

He received a subsidy of VNĐ50 million ($2,000) and a soft loan of VNĐ50 million.

He earned VNĐ150 million ($6,000) from growing morning glory in the net house last year, VNĐ50 million more than from traditional methods, he said.

“The net house model requires less tending than traditional models, faces lower risks of diseases and protects vegetables from heavy rains,” he said.

The province plans to spend VNĐ390 billion ($15.9 million) to help restructure agriculture in 2021-25, and spent nearly VNĐ50 billion ($2 million) this year.

Lê Văn Đông, deputy director of the department, said the province also supported localities with adopting Vietnamese good agricultural practices (VietGAP) standards, improving mixed orchards and switching to high-value crops on unproductive rice fields.

It was also helping locals participate in the national “One Commune – One Product” programme, he said.

The department was co-operating with localities to encourage farmers to apply farming models that produce clean agricultural products to ensure sustainable farming, adapt to climate change and meet market requirements, he added. — VNS