Lesson 1: Don't let the land rest

(Baonghean) -The Mai Giang River branches from Quynh Phuong Commune (Quynh Luu District) down to Lach Quen Estuary, nearly 10 km long, separating 7 communes: Quynh Phuong, Quynh Lien, Quynh Bang, Quynh Luong, Quynh Minh, Quynh Nghia and Tien Thuy into the district's coastal area. This coastal area has 1,500 hectares of productive land, for generations people in this area have made a living by many occupations: growing vegetables, making salt, fishing, raising shrimp... very dynamically and effectively.

This is not the first time I have been to Bai Ngang Quynh Luu, but like many times before, I am still "fascinated" by the lush green vegetable fields that cling deep to the prosperous residential area. That is the image of farmers busy with the stages of tilling the land, watering, groups of people absorbed in harvesting vegetables, and trucks loaded with vegetables and fruits leaving the beach to sell. From the time after Tet to April, in the communes of Quynh Bang, Quynh Luong, Quynh Minh, it is the main season of green onions. From afar, you can see the green onion patches, interspersed with silver patches, which are the onion patches that people have harvested and have just prepared the land to replant. The air here is filled with the pungent smell of spices. For people in the beach area, they always have the concept of "not letting the land rest, every inch of land is an inch of gold".

Early in the morning, the sea breeze blew in, the weather became colder, on the concrete road, turning through the small hamlet, connecting from Provincial Road 537B to the coast, we immediately met farmers engrossed in the vegetable field. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thao in hamlet 3, Quynh Minh commune, smilingly boasted that before Tet, the scallions were sold on the spot for 3-4 thousand VND/kg, the producers made a profit, now it has jumped to 8-10 thousand VND/kg, which is a big win. This job is very precarious, because the price is erratic. Knowing that, people still accept the market, because this is a traditional job, rich or poor, it all depends on vegetables. Therefore, each season has its own thing, this coastal area is always full of vegetables.

That said, the income of people growing vegetables on the coastal plains is several times higher than that of people growing rice in other areas. Thanks to the application of scientific and technological advances, people here grow vegetables all year round in an intensive manner, rotating from 4 to 6 crops per year (depending on the type of vegetable). Ms. Thao's family has 3 plots of land, a total of nearly 600 m2, specializing in intensive vegetable cultivation. For each plot, her family drills a well in the corner of the field to provide irrigation water on site. Each well is drilled 5 to 6 meters deep, the labor cost of each well is only over 2 million VND. With just that area of ​​land, Ms. Thao's family earns hundreds of millions of VND in profit each year.

I am concerned about pesticide residues when farmers spray pesticides on vegetables, Quynh Luong commune residents confided: To be honest with you, if you do not spray pesticides when growing vegetables, you will have to sell them from tissue culture, because vegetables often have many types of leaf-eating insects that eat leaves at night. But the problem is when to spray. For us, in the beginning, vegetable growers have to spray pesticides at night, and focus on watering and weeding during the day. When the vegetables grow to the stage where they are about 15 days away from harvest, absolutely do not spray any pesticides. Quynh Luu coastal green vegetables in general have a "brand" in the market from the Central region to the North, if we do not follow the safe vegetable production process, who will we sell them to?

From extensive farming in the 1990s of the last century, for decades now, people in the coastal areas have been growing intensively and increasing the number of crops. Mr. Ho Canh Sau - Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Luong Commune, boasted that, of all the vegetables grown here, green onions bring the highest income. If 1 hectare of land is planted with green onions and well cared for, the harvest will be 1 billion VND/year. Many people may not believe this, but if you do the math, you will get that number right away. If 1 hectare of green onions is planted, after 1.5 months (more than 2 months if sown), it will yield 20 tons, at the current price of 10,000 VND/kg, it will be 200 million VND. With 5 crops per year, onion growers earn 1 billion VND.

But that is just an individual number, on average, 185 hectares of Quynh Luong's production land, the average annual harvest is 170 million VND/ha, minus expenses, the profit is 100 million VND, which is real. Sandy soil is very suitable for intensive vegetable cultivation, so people never let the land rest for a day. Today's harvest is finished, tomorrow they plant another crop. Each square meter can yield millions of VND/year, so whether it is production land or garden land, people make use of every centimeter to grow vegetables. Currently, the whole commune has dug and drilled 4,000 wells in the fields, serving to irrigate 185 hectares of green vegetables every day.

People in Bai Ngang use on-site well water for production.

Vegetable growers in Bai Ngang are no different from raising children. From early morning, people have to go to the fields to plow the soil, weed, water... the work is always on hand. As for harvesting, it depends on the customer. If the customer places an order in Vinh City, the vegetable growers have to harvest from the evening, and by midnight, the truck has enough goods to transport the vegetables to Vinh to sell at the night market. If the customer is in Da Nang or Hue, the vegetable growers harvest from 2-3 am... In general, it depends on the customer to calculate the harvest time. People in Bai Ngang never compete to buy and sell, when a family's vegetables are ready to be harvested, the service provider comes to the field to place the order, then the women focus on harvesting.

For a long time, people in the coastal vegetable area have formed groups to exchange labor according to inter-family groups, in order to harvest on time. All vegetable-growing communes in the coastal area have people specializing in vegetable services, but the most is still Quynh Luong, with 100 families specializing in vegetable services. They invest in buying trucks and looking for consumption markets. Mr. Ho Trong Hai in hamlet 4, who specializes in vegetable services in Quynh Luong commune, said: After more than 13 years of doing vegetable services, we have now formed a vegetable consumption network from North to South, almost every province in the Central region sells vegetables from the coastal area of ​​Quynh Luu. Whether the market is expensive or cheap, we have to accept loyalty to customers. Not only that, between us and vegetable growers, we also have to accept market fluctuations.

The coastal area of ​​Quynh Luu and Quynh Lien is also the “capital” of chayote. Before arriving at this “capital”, we heard about the ups and downs of the chayote market, sometimes 10 thousand VND/kg, sometimes down to only 200-500 VND/kg, but people still take advantage of every square meter of garden land to make chayote trellis. The day we arrived was the end of the season, many chayote trellises had dried leaves, occasionally there were still small trucks coming to buy chayote for consumption.

Visiting the chayote garden of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Ly's family in Hamlet 4, we were surprised by the family's very scientific investment in care. Mrs. Ly said: The family's garden is nearly 1 sao wide, the whole area has been used to make chayote trellises. After decades of growing vegetables, there is no plant that yields as high and easy as this one. Growing chayote, the biggest investment is in making trellises, if possible, use concrete poles and steel mesh. The most important factor is to have a convenient irrigation system. Mrs. Ly said that the selling price of chayote in mid-April is 7 thousand VND/kg, but there are no sales because this is the end of the season, and very few households have chayote to sell.

More than a month ago, the price of chayote was less than 1,000 VND/kg, so many families switched to growing vegetables. With the current selling price, chayote growers are making a big profit. Last year, Ms. Ly's family invested 2.5 million VND to install a hose irrigation system, which is very convenient for watering, does not require much effort, and is highly effective. Therefore, the chayote trellis always grows well, the fruit grows quickly, and is harvested every 4 days, yielding 2-3 quintals of fruit. When it is time to harvest the fruit, the buyer comes to the house to deliver plastic bags, and at the end of the day comes to weigh it, transfer it to a car for consumption.

Chayote consumption in Quynh Lien commune.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thuyet - land and agricultural officer of Quynh Lien commune, said: Chayote has been in the locality since 1996, and has grown the most since 2004. Because this plant brings high income, people compete to grow chayote. The area of ​​chayote in the locality is currently 100 hectares, accounting for more than 1/3 of the commune's cultivated land. If well cared for, 1 sao can yield 8-10 tons of fruit/crop, with an average of 5-6 tons/sao/crop. Every household grows chayote, so from November this year to May next year, every day there are cars coming to the locality to transport chayote for consumption. At peak times, Quynh Lien harvested 120 tons of chayote.

However, growing chayote accepts erratic prices, for example, before Tet the price was 10,000 VND/kg, but after Tet it was only 200 - 500 VND/kg. Although the price is like that, according to the people, if chayote is sold at the garden price of 3 - 4,000 VND/kg, it is still a high income. The initial investment for 1 hectare of chayote is about 100 million VND. But the investment is only once, the time of use is 3 - 4 crops, so it is not really high. The chayote variety is 100% taken from Sa Pa, so the quality is high, favored by consumers in the cities. Quynh Lien is called the "capital" of chayote because the chayote here is both abundant and of good quality. Consumers commented that chayote in Quynh Lien is different from chayote in other places because after boiling, the inside is still green, and it has its own fragrant taste. The advantage of chayote is that it does not have any pests, so it does not need to be sprayed, so it is a safe vegetable.

The Bai Ngang Quynh Luu area has more than 1 thousand hectares specializing in intensive vegetable cultivation of all kinds, which is a place with a large vegetable output supplying the Central market. The characteristic of this land is that it is often flooded when there is heavy rain, so in 2011, the State invested 100 billion VND from Government bonds to implement a flood prevention project for this area.

Xuan Hoang