Song Lam Sugarcane Joint Stock Company: Supporting farmers in developing sugarcane material areas
(Baonghean.vn) -While some factories are worried about the lack of sugarcane raw materials, Song Lam Sugarcane Joint Stock Company is continuing to increase sugarcane pressing capacity. Expanding sugarcane raw material areas and investing in direct support for farmers are practical and effective measures in production and business.
It is known that in the 2011-2012 crop year, the raw sugarcane area of Song Lam Sugarcane Joint Stock Company was 1,500 hectares (an increase of 300 hectares), reaching 78,000 tons of sugarcane (an increase of 24,000 tons). The company purchased sugarcane from farmers in time and finished the pressing season in April 2012. Mr. Dang Van Canh - Deputy Director of the Company, said: The 2012-2013 crop year will be a "breakthrough" when the raw material area reaches 1,700 hectares of sugarcane (an increase of 200 hectares compared to the previous crop year). It is expected to reach over 90,000 tons of sugarcane (an increase of 12,000 tons of sugarcane). The communes that expanded the area are Tho Son from 300 hectares to 400 hectares, Binh Son commune increased by 50 hectares, Hung Son (Anh Son) increased by 20 hectares. Bong Khe commune (Con Cuong) newly planted over 20 hectares.
Thanh-Binh-Tho sugarcane raw material route is seriously degraded.
Right from the beginning of the season, the Company has had policies on raw material areas in many flexible forms such as providing seeds, lending 1,500 tons of fertilizer, supporting land preparation money... The total cost for farmers to borrow for the 2012-2013 crop year reached over 9 billion VND without interest. The Company directed farmers to plant sugarcane in different seasons on the land to avoid the situation of raw material backlog. The main sugarcane varieties suitable for the Lam River alluvial land are structured as Roc 10, 16 and Que Duong.
During the prolonged hot weather, many sugarcane areas lacked water. The Company has taken appropriate measures to combat drought. For example, in areas with rice irrigation systems, the sugarcane irrigation system has been combined quite effectively. Specifically, in Chau Khe commune (Con Cuong), over 90 hectares of sugarcane are using water from the Lam River pumping station. The sugarcane yield here is expected to reach over 100 tons/ha. In many other areas with irrigation capabilities, farmers have proactively used small pumps to combat drought for sugarcane. The agricultural staff, thanks to closely following the fields, has done a good job of forecasting pests and diseases. They have zoned off areas for spraying to suppress brown planthoppers in Tho Son and Binh Son communes... and recommended that farmers strip leaves to ventilate sugarcane fields to minimize aphids. During this period, sugarcane grows well, the weather is quite favorable for sugarcane growth, and the sugarcane raw material area is expected to achieve an average yield of 65-70 tons of sugarcane/ha.
To serve the new pressing season, the Company is focusing on maintaining machinery, such as completing the pressing system, fiber grinder, evaporator... the total value of upgrading the machinery system is over 40 billion VND. The next pressing season will reach a capacity of 1,000 tons of sugarcane/day.
The current difficulty is that the transportation system for the sugarcane raw material area has mostly degraded and been severely damaged. The most seriously damaged is the Thanh-Binh-Tho road, due to overloaded trucks carrying iron ore and acacia trees destroying the road every day. Recently, the Company has invested 90 million VND to repair the Hoa Son commune road, hundreds of millions of VND to repair the Thanh-Binh-Tho road... the total value of road repairs is over 600 million VND.
Van Truong
