A farmer reaps what he or she harvested seeds

Vietnamese farmers often call on consumers to ‘rescue’ farm produce when there is an oversupply and sales are slow. But the use of e-commerce platforms has changed that. Earning his living by cultivating vegetables for many years, Do Van Chung in Gia Loc district in Hai Duong province complained that he has never met such difficulties before. In previous years, he harvested 4 tons of cabbage and earned VND14-16 million from two sao (1 sao = 360m2) of cultivation area. But he cannot find buyers and is not sure if he can earn VND2 million from each sao. Phung Danh Ut, the owner of a melon field used with greenhouse technology, also complained that trucks have not come to collect produce for the last two weeks and the price has plunged from VND35,000 per kilogram to VND11,000. Chung and Ut, who have been living on agricultural production for many years, have become ‘as clumsy as bears’ as goods circulation is stuck. To solve the problem, Hai Duong provincial authorities decided to utilize IT to boost the distribution of products. Some groups have been set up on Zalo, including Doanh nghiep nong nghiep Hai Duong (Hai Duong agriculture companies), Nong nghiep Hai Duong vuot qua dai dich (Hai Duong’s agriculture overcomes the pandemic) and Tong hop nhu cau (demand summary). Leaders of appropriate agencies are also members of the groups, helping connect businesses in Hai Duong province and other provinces, and helping farmers join production, supply and transportation chains. “We connect businesspeople by using the commune’s electronic information portal and Zalo and invite them to come to Hai Duong to collect farm produce,” said Nguyen Tien Thanh, deputy chair of Pham Tran commune. “Approximately 800 tons of farm produce were marketed during the social distancing time. About 300 tons of cabbage remains unsold,” he said. Meanwhile, Do Van Sang, deputy chair of Gia Loc district, said 10,000 tons of vegetables and 200 tons of poultry meat have …

[Read more...] about Using technology, farmers no longer need produce ‘rescue’ campaigns

Harder to make a living with sugarcane The harvest of sugarcane in sugarcane growing-areas in Ninh Xuan and Ninh Tay communes in Ninh Hoa Town was quite subdued. Many sugarcane fields are stunted and unhealthy because farmers neglect to invest in care. Interlaced between stunted sugarcane fields is vacant land. The sugarcane growing-areas in Ninh Hoa no longer show the lush green of the heyday of sugarcane. Even in the harvest season, the gloomy atmosphere hovers over sugarcane fields. According to local sugarcane farmers, the current price of material sugarcane purchased by local sugar refineries ranges from VND920,000 to VND950,000 per ton for sugarcane with 10 percent of commercial cane sugar. This is considered a high price compared to those in recent years, but farmers are not as excited as the time when sugarcane helped them to make a fortune. For instance, in Ninh Tan Commune, five years ago, sugarcane helped many farmers to escape poverty and become well-off, thanks to large-scale sugarcane cultivation. However, in recent years, sugarcane has no longer brought them a prosperous life anymore. Visiting the 1.5-hectare sugarcane field of Vo Thi Hau Phuong, a farmer in Trung Village in Ninh Tan Commune, whose sugarcanes are of high quality in the area and are being harvested to sell to the factory of Vietnam Sugar Company, she said that in this crop, sugarcane yield was about 40 tons per hectare, with commercial cane sugar percentage at above 10. It is because her family invested and taken care of their sugarcane field carefully. Meanwhile, many surrounding stunted sugarcane fields will undoubtedly give very low productivity. Despite high yield, high commercial cane sugar percentage, and high sugarcane selling price in this crop, she reckons that the profit is small. Le Minh Tuan's household in Bac Village in Ninh Tan Commune has more than 3 hectares of sugarcane. With nearly 20 years of experience in growing sugarcane, he estimated that the total …

[Read more...] about Capital of sugarcane in South Central Coast backslides

The Cái Lớn sluice is being built in Kiên Giang Province.  VNA/VNS Photo Lê Sen HCM CITY — Saltwater intrusion in the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta will continue to increase in March and April, according to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorology Forecasting. The peak of saltwater intrusion will occur during high tide on March 12 -16, March 27 – April 1, April 9 – 14 and April 24 – 30. The delta, the country’s largest rice, fruit and seafood producer, is facing a higher than normal level of saltwater intrusion from the sea through river mouths in the ongoing dry season. However, it is not as severe as the level of the previous dry season. The delta’s provinces have dredged irrigation canals to store more water and upgraded and built dams and sluices to prevent saltwater intrusion and store fresh water. Nguyễn Thiện Pháp, head of the Tiền Giang Province’s Irrigation Sub-department, said the province has built eight dams to store fresh water for agricultural production and supply daily use water for 800,000 households. Farmers in Tiền Giang, the country’s largest fruit producer, have stored irrigation water in their orchard ditches for fruit and other crops. In Cà Mau Province, farmers have stored fresh water in containers and have switched to growing drought – resistant crops. The delta sowed the ongoing winter-spring rice one month earlier than normal to avoid a shortage of irrigation water at the end of the crop. Farmers are now harvesting the winter-spring rice and have had a bumper harvest. The harvest of the winter-spring rice is expected to be completed in May. Largest irrigation system Kiên Giang Province is speeding up the phase one construction of the Cái Lớn – Cái Bé irrigation system to serve agricultural production and local households. The irrigation system, which is the largest of its kind in the delta, connects the Cái Lớn River and the Cái Bé River and is expected to improve agriculture and aquaculture and …

[Read more...] about Mekong Delta faces peak saltwater intrusion in March, April