Double power consumption
At Thuan Nghia Vegetable Village of Thuan Nghia Agricultural Cooperative, Phu Phong City (Tay Son District, Binh Dinh), farmers are growing this year’s vegetable crop on 12 hectares of all kinds of vegetables to supply the market.
According to Mr. Quach Van Cau, Director of Thuan Nghia Agricultural Cooperative, Thuan Nghia Vegetable Village currently has more than 38 ha of vegetable acreage, of which 19.5 ha is owned by the Quality Center for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Region 2 (under the Department of Management , Quality Control of Agro-Forestry-Fischeries, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) has recognized the planning of safe vegetable production according to VieGAP standards with a total of 224 member households belonging to 9 groups with equal interest in safe vegetable production.
Vegetable areas in Binh Dinh are growing many new types of vegetables. Photo: VDT
On average, the consumption of Thuan Nghia Vegetable Village is between 4 and 5 tons per day. Especially during the last Tet holiday, the production of vegetables that was delivered to the market increased more. On weekdays, the vegetable farmers here earn more than 3 million VND/crop/Sao (500 m2) with stable sales prices. During the vegetable harvest of the lunar new year 2023, the income of the vegetable village Thuan Nghia increased many times over per unit area. In addition to traditional vegetables, Thuan Nghia farmers tried to plant some new vegetables this year, such as bok choy, yellow cauliflower and spinach.
Thuan Nghia Agricultural Cooperative has a factory to safely process vegetables according to VietGAP standards supported by the Binh Dinh Safe Vegetable Project, including a centrifuge, clean vegetable washing system, ozone aerator and storage system. For the time being, the factory processes 500-700 kg of vegetables every day with 4 workers directly involved. Especially during the Tet holiday, the cooperative has doubled its daily vegetable processing capacity due to the increased demand for vegetables in the market.
According to Mr. Cau, vegetable prices have never been higher than this year. All vegetables have increased in price since before Tet, up 20-30% compared to regular vegetables in Lunar New Year 2023.
Experimental model of new vegetable variety Minetto lettuce in Thuan Nghia vegetable area (Tay Son district, Binh Dinh). Photo: VDT
“In recent years, green vegetables have also increased more than usual during Tet, but the increase has not been as strong as this year. This year, in the pre-Tet period, the price of green vegetables has increased, while Tet the increase is stronger. So far, the first 10 days of January have passed, but vegetables are still heavily consumed, the price of leafy vegetables is still as high as on Tet, only tubers and fruits are reduced by 50% compared to Tet. Vegetables in Thuan Nghia Merchants come to the field to buy, but people don’t have to go to the market. The price of vegetables has increased, and after Tet, vegetable farmers can enjoy a happy Tet,” said Mr. Quach Van Cau, director of Thuan Nghia Agricultural Cooperative.
Strong win on the Tet vegetable harvest
The clean vegetable growing areas in Luat Chanh, Dai Le, Tuan Le, Tu Thuy in Phuoc Hiep Commune (Tuy Phuoc District, Binh Dinh) are no exception.
According to Mr. Pham Long Thang, director of Phuoc Hiep Agricultural Cooperative, local vegetable farmers have never had such joy as this year’s Tet vegetable harvest. Thanks to the favorable weather, the green vegetables are in season and price. Vegetable prices have increased 2-3 times compared to Tet vegetables in previous years, giving vegetable farmers a good source of income. Anyone who grows vegetables in Phuoc Hiep this year can eat a full tet.
Pre-processing of vegetables before placing on the market. Photo: VDT
In Phuoc Hiep, there are 256 farming households with the same hobby of growing clean vegetables, participating in the production of many varieties of vegetables according to VietGAP standards. Up to now, Phuoc Hiep Agricultural Cooperative has 13.5 hectares of vegetable cultivation area and supplies supermarkets and secure vegetable stalls in the province with 0.5 to 1 ton of vegetables every day.
Before Tet, vegetable prices increased at a record rate compared to any year due to the shortage of supply in the market. Fruits and vegetables such as cucumber, bitter melon and green beans cost VND 70,000-80,000/kg; and leafy greens such as broccoli, chrysanthemum, onion, lettuce, coriander, okra, etc. cost between 40,000-45,000 VND/kg.
“Not only the price is higher than every year, but also the demand in the market is very strong, so there are times when the cooperative does not have enough vegetables,” said Mr. Pham Long Thang.
According to Mr. Thang, because of the high price of green vegetables, the vegetable farmers are quite profitable, so the vegetable fields in Phuoc Hiep Municipality only needed to be tended and watered on the 1st and 2nd of the lunar new year by farmers who just sowed and harvested the vegetable beds, bring the harvest of vegetables that have come into season to the pre-processing house, classify, pack and sell in a timely manner.
Traders come to the fields to buy and sell vegetables. Photo: VDT
According to Mr. Tran The Vinh, who has been engaged in the cultivation of clean vegetables in Luat Chanh village for more than 10 years, he has never seen vegetable prices rise as much as this year’s Tet. With this vegetable crop, Mr. Vinh’s family can grow 0.5ha of vegetables with all kinds of cucumber, bitter melon, green beans, okra, etc. before, during and after Lunar New Year to harvest on time, every day he put 3-4 more Laborer to work with housekeeper to keep up with work.
“Thanks to the sharp increase in the price of green vegetables with the existing vegetable acreage from the end of December to now, I have an income of more than VND 30 million from selling vegetables. After deducting the production costs and paying the harvest labor, I still have a net profit of almost 20 million dongs,” Vinh said excitedly.
According to the Binh Dinh Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Binh Dinh farmers will plant nearly 2,483 hectares of all kinds of vegetables in the 2022-2023 winter-spring harvest. Not only the clean vegetable areas of Thuan Nghia and Phuoc Hiep won the award, green vegetables grown in other places were sold very strongly by the market at much better prices than during Tet in previous years.