Anh Son green squash has good price near Tet

On the green fields stretching hundreds of hectares in Cam Son commune, Anh Son district, the atmosphere in the middle of December is very bustling when people gather in the fields to harvest green pumpkins.

The family of Ms. Nguyen Thi Hai in Hamlet 4, Cam Son Commune is one of the households with the largest area of ​​green squash in the area. Ms. Hai said: In recent years, green squash has affirmed its economic value over other vegetables, so this year the family decided to expand the area of ​​green squash to 9 sao, more than 3 sao compared to last year. Thanks to many years of experience growing squash, from the beginning of the season, the family focused on care, fertilizing with nitrogen fertilizers, pinching the tops, and planting trellises at the right time so that the squash grows well and bears fruit evenly.

Not far away, Mr. Cao Xuan Khanh’s family was also busy harvesting green squash. Because the traders had promised to come and buy on time, Mr. Khanh mobilized his whole family to cut the squash. In just 2 hours, the family harvested more than 500 kg of squash, piled them up on the side of the road waiting for buyers.

Mr. Khanh said: This is the 4th year the family has grown squash, the squash area is larger than other vegetables. Squash has many advantages such as short growing time to harvest, about 3 months, producing 5-6 batches of fruit, helping the family have a continuous income with a relatively stable output. This year the weather is relatively favorable so squash has few pests and diseases, good yield, moreover, this variety of squash has a dense flesh, can be preserved for a long time.

According to research, green squash is a winter crop grown on a large area in Cam Son commune, Anh Son district with 50 hectares. The average yield is 2 - 3 tons of fruit/sao. Each squash is on average 50 - 70cm long, weighing from 2 - 4 kg/fruit. In early December, traders bought it for 11,500 VND/kg, by mid-December it was 8,500 VND/kg, with this price, farmers still make a profit after deducting expenses.

Ms. Hoang Thi Nga, a pumpkin trader in Anh Son district, said: The time before Tet is the time when vegetables and tubers are consumed strongly in the market, including green pumpkin. On average, every day, I import 20 - 30 tons of pumpkin for people in Anh Son district at the price of 8,500 VND/kg, this price has decreased by about 3,000 VND/kg compared to the beginning of the season, because now it has entered the mass harvest period, although this is still a stable price compared to previous years.

Cam Son Commune People's Committee, Anh Son District said: Green squash is the winter crop with the highest income in the area, 10 times higher than corn and 3-4 times higher than other crops such as squash, luffa, vegetables of all kinds... From the results, Cam Son Commune People's Committee has planned an area in the Lam River bank to specialize in producing many types of commercial vegetables, mainly growing green squash.

In particular, this year, the locality was selected by the Nghe An Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection and the District Agricultural Service Center to build a pilot model of "Vegetable production ensuring food safety". Therefore, squash and other vegetables in general have good productivity, especially squash with an average yield of over 40 tons/ha, the total output of the commune is estimated at over 2,000 tons of winter squash, worth tens of billions of VND.

This winter crop, Anh Son district produced nearly 400 hectares of various vegetables, of which squash was over 100 hectares, grown in large numbers in Cam Son, Duc Son, and Tao Son communes... This is the winter crop with the highest economic value up to this point.