Off-season green squash in Nghia Dan has a good price

Previously, the alluvial land next to Hieu River in Nghia Thinh Commune (Nghia Dan) was the land of people in Tong Mon Hamlet. After many years of growing cassava and peanuts without success, they had to leave it fallow. Since 2022, Mr. Truong Xuan Nam's household in Quyet Thang Hamlet, Nghia Thinh Commune has contracted more than 1.5 hectares of land to invest in growing green squash. Each year, the family grows two main crops: spring-summer and autumn-winter. The main crop has a good harvest, but the price is not high, only 5-7 thousand VND/kg. In the summer-autumn crop of 2024, his family invested in growing off-season green squash and it was much more effective.

Mr. Nam said: His family has been planting squash for 2-3 years, this year he boldly invested in planting the summer-autumn crop. Although at the beginning of the season the weather was sunny and not favorable for squash to grow, when the squash flowered and set fruit, the weather was very favorable, so the yield was quite high. Starting from June of the solar calendar, his family planted the seeds, and the squash is currently being harvested. With an area of ​​1.5 sao, his family earned nearly 200 million VND, from now until the end of the season they will harvest 3-4 more crops.

“The reason my family grows off-season squash is because the economic value is many times higher than that of main-season crops, and the product output is easy. Currently, we sell at the field for 18-25 thousand VND/kg. If the price remains stable, we can earn an average of more than 20 million VND per sao, many times more profitable than other vegetable crops…”

Sharing the same joy, Mrs. Le Thi Ha's family is excited because this summer-autumn crop, her family has grown 2 sao of green squash. At the current price, each harvest, she can pick over 4 tons of squash, equivalent to 65 million VND. She said: Green squash brings high economic value compared to many other crops such as rice, corn, peanuts. On average, 1 sao of green squash grown in the off-season, if harvested completely, can buy 4 tons of rice.

Regarding planting and care, according to Ms. Ha's own experience and through training from the Commune Farmers' Association, before planting, she will soak the seeds, cover them tightly, and after a few days the seeds will crack, sow them directly or in plastic pots, then plant them in the field. When the plants are 90 - 100cm tall, start making a trellis by placing the poles diagonally to form a roof shape to take advantage of the space. When the vines need to be left in a natural position, do not twist or turn the vines upside down, use banana ropes or sticky rice straw to tie them neatly under the leaf axils, and pin them to the trellis. And each plant has 2-3 main branches, each branch has 2-3 fruits. When the fruits are about 60 - 70 days old, start harvesting.

Nghia Thinh commune has more than 100 hectares of alluvial land along the Hieu River, which is ineffective for growing crops. Identifying agriculture as the main direction, the local government has recently sent people to study some models in other districts, realizing that squash is a short-term commodity crop with the highest income, especially when grown off-season. Therefore, the government encourages people to expand the area and continue to find suitable crop varieties to diversify crops, avoiding the situation of good harvest but low prices.

Mr. Nguyen Van Trung - Vice Chairman of Nghia Thinh Commune People's Committee said: "Determining agriculture as the main direction, in recent times, the cadres and people of Nghia Thinh Commune have boldly transformed the structure of seasonal crops, applied scientific and technical advances in production, and built many commodity economic models. Through the implementation period, the locality has determined that squash is still a short-term commodity crop with the highest income.