Kudzu "takes root" in Tan Ky land

(Baonghean) - Although cassava has been grown by Tan Ky people for decades, due to lack of application of science and technology, the efficiency is low and the quality is not guaranteed. Since 2013, Tan Ky District People's Committee has had a policy of developing cassava into a commodity, with the goal of earning 100 million VND/ha/year...

Traveling over 5 km from Dong Lau intersection, we arrived at Mr. Dinh Van Tung’s family in Tien Dong hamlet, Dong Van commune, one of the cassava growing models in the district. Mr. Tung’s house is located in the middle of a fairly large hillside plot, surrounded by mountains and forests. Around his house are a series of ornamental plants, fish ponds, green vegetables and a cassava garden.

Mr. Tung excitedly said that he has lived here since 1984, with the land area assigned to him by the State to manage, including 4 hectares of production land, protecting 8.7 hectares of natural forest and 8.3 hectares of forestry land, now planted with closed canopy forests. With kudzu, in early 2014, he received 380 seedlings from the District Gardening Association to plant on an area of ​​0.5 hectares of hillside land. This is a model of kudzu planting in the district, so the district supported the seedlings and trained in planting and care techniques. According to Mr. Tung, the method of planting kudzu is quite simple. Before bringing the seedlings back, he dug 380 holes, each hole was 1.2 m square wide and 60 cm deep. After digging the holes, put sugarcane bagasse, rice husks, leaves and 40 kg of manure into each hole. On top, use 4 kg of NPK fertilizer mixed with soil, then pile up the soil into a mound on the ground, about 70 cm high. When placing seedlings, do not let the roots come into contact with the fertilizer.

During the planting and care process, if the weather is dry, water once every 2 days. After the plant has grown for 1 month or more, it does not need to be watered anymore. During the growth of the cassava plant, a trellis must be made as soon as the vine begins to climb. A trellis only needs 3-4 stakes, with many branches for the vine to climb easily. During the care process, you must regularly monitor for pests and if you find any vine crawling down to the ground, you must lift it up onto the trellis, the purpose is to not let the plant feed that group of roots, but to concentrate nutrients on feeding the tubers. Through 1 crop, it has been shown that the characteristics of cassava are that it is easy to care for, with almost no pests or diseases.

Harvesting cassava at Mr. Dinh Van Tung's family, Tien Dong hamlet, Dong Van commune (Tan Ky).

Having said that, Mr. Tung shouldered the spade and led us to the cassava garden to try digging some mounds. He parted the leaves and dug 3 mounds, under the loose soil, he only needed to dig a few times to reach the tubers. Each root had a bunch of 4-5 tubers, each tuber was as big as an arm or more, 30-70 cm long. Mr. Tung added that he had not just tried digging now, a month ago he had tried digging many tubers in many different places, through the test digging, each tuber had many tubers, estimated that each tuber had about 15 kg of tubers. The current selling price of cassava tubers is 10,000 VND/kg, so Mr. Tung's cassava garden this year is estimated to harvest about 5 tons of tubers, equivalent to 50 million VND.

Tan Ky district has included cassava in its household economic development policy since 2013, with the goal of harvesting 100 million VND/ha/year. In 2013, the district organized a tour for the district's Gardening Association and some families to learn from experience and purchase seedlings in Nam Dan district, then returned to plant 4 hectares for trial, with quite high income. In 2014, the district expanded the planting to 6 communes, with a scale of 8 hectares, including: Dong Van 1 ha, Nghia Phuc 0.5 ha, Giai Xuan 0.5 ha, Ky Tan 1 ha, Nghia Binh 0.5 ha and Nghia Hop 4.5 ha. There are 2 months left until the cassava harvest, according to the report of the district's Gardening Association (the unit implementing the model), cassava is suitable for the hillside land of Tan Ky district, achieving high productivity and output, it is estimated that planting 1 hectare of cassava can reach 120 - 150 million VND/year.

With such productivity, output and area, cassava in Tan Ky has gradually formed a high-value agricultural product. Before planting, some cassava flour processing facility owners in Nam Dan district had ordered the consumption of cassava tubers for Tan Ky district. Seeing the effectiveness of cassava, next year the district will direct the area to be increased to 20 hectares, planted in 10 communes and continue to expand the area in the following years.

Hoang Xuan