Rush to rent land to grow clean vegetables

Ho Chi Minh City is booming with the leasing of land for growing clean vegetables, either as a package (growing vegetables and providing them to the tenant); or just renting land and growing them yourself, with various prices. Many places also provide services such as installing cameras, sending the process of growing, spraying, and caring for the vegetables online to the tenant.

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Urgent need

In reality, the need to consume clean food, including clean vegetables, is extremely urgent for people. In cases where families have land, they take the opportunity to design a small garden to provide fresh vegetables for the whole family. On the contrary, families do not have land, or the land is not enough to grow many types of vegetables, they will rent it. That is, whether they have land or not, everyone has the mentality of finding a small piece of land to proactively source safe vegetables, ensuring the health of the family. Ms. Vu Thi My Hang, living in Nam Long residential area (District 7), shared: “I have small children at home, so I am very careful when buying processed foods for my children, especially green vegetables. After researching, I decided to rent land to grow vegetables for a full package price of 1.7 million VND/month at Nha Ai Clean Vegetable Farm, which is planted, cared for, harvested, and delivered to my home by the gardener himself. When I have free time, I can visit the garden anytime.”

Mr. Bui Cong Ngan's Nha Ai Clean Vegetable Farm is located in Xuan Thoi Thuong Commune, Hoc Mon District, with an area of ​​about 4,000 square meters. It is applying a full-package rental policy, delivering vegetables to your home on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays or Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. The rental prices are 1.3 million VND and 1.7 million VND/month for gardens of 35 square meters or 50 square meters, respectively. At the farm, the vegetable beds are lush and green with bright colors. Pointing to a bed of about 40 square meters of water spinach, Mr. Ngan said that all fresh vegetables are grown according to VietGAP standards. Some types such as water spinach, amaranth, squash shoots, etc. are grown entirely using traditional methods, without using stimulants or pesticides. On average, each month, the amount of vegetables delivered to customers is from 30kg - 35kg (area 35 square meters); 40kg - 45kg (area 50 square meters). To increase the vegetable growing area to supply the market, Mr. Ngan and his relatives are preparing to open another vegetable farm in Cu Chi district. At this new location, Mr. Ngan will install cameras to help customers easily monitor the growing process.

In Thao Dien area (District 2) of Ho Chi Minh City, there is also Family Garden farm specializing in providing safe vegetable products, in addition to about 200 garden plots for customers to rent to grow vegetables, with a fee of about 650,000 VND/month for a garden of 10m2, but a contract of at least 3 months must be signed. In addition, the farm provides seeds and agricultural supplies of all kinds to help customers easily choose; or provides vegetable care services for busy customers for 200,000 VND/month. In addition, a series of other rental locations in Hoc Mon district, Tan Binh district, district 9... are also openly advertised, with competitive prices, even providing camera installation services, sending care procedures online to those who book the service.

Need the "extended arm" of the State

Discussing the movement of people renting land to grow clean vegetables, Dr. Nguyen Huu Dat, Executive Committee Member of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, said that many retired friends like him are very worried and struggling to find clean vegetables for their families. “I myself have worked for many years, specializing in the field of plant quarantine, and understand quite well the problem of vegetables and fruits contaminated with chemicals, pesticides, growth stimulants, etc., but it is not easy to find clean vegetables that meet standards. We just buy randomly, but it is very difficult to trace the origin. It is understandable that people are worried and proactively rent land to grow vegetables, ensuring safe meals for the whole family,” Dr. Nguyen Huu Dat shared.

However, even gardeners who invest in technology, specialize in supplying clean vegetables and clean vegetable growing services for the Ho Chi Minh City market also face difficulties. Investing large capital but when demand is high, the market appears ambiguous, counterfeit, and unhealthy competition. To illustrate this, the owner of a farm that grows and leases land to grow clean vegetables in Binh Chanh district indignantly said: "From the introduction, the way of marketing the products, the price of each item... of my side are all copied almost completely by some websites. Customers are curious and contact me because they think I am opening a new facility". Currently, the market also appears many advertisements, committing to providing young, sweet, nutritious vegetables, reaching 4kg - 4.5kg/m2 per month, meeting safety standards. However, according to Mr. Bui Cong Ngan, owner of Rau Sach Nha Ai farm, this is difficult to do, not excluding the mixing of poor quality vegetables. For example, for baby spinach, it is harvested after only about 15 days to ensure the vegetable has enough nutrients, instead of waiting for the full 30 days (because it easily loses nutrients and is not delicious). But if harvested early like this, the gardener will be at a disadvantage, because the yield will only be 1.5 kg/m2, instead of 2.5 kg/m2 if harvested late.

From practical experience in supporting businesses to successfully export thousands of tons of fruit to demanding markets (USA, Japan, Australia...), Dr. Nguyen Huu Dat said that it is not necessary to require farmers to grow vegetables and fruits with VietGAP certification, but only need to produce according to VietGAP standards. On the contrary, producers need to show consumers which standards their products meet (test results of soil and water samples...). Market pressure requires businesses and farmers to do business properly. Regarding the problem of clean vegetables, Dr. Nguyen Huu Dat said: "It is very necessary to have the "extended hand" of the State in supervising and supporting farmers and consumers. It is possible to mobilize more experienced producers, traders, and experts, even those who have retired, to support this work. Although renting land to grow vegetables is spontaneous, it is also necessary to help people with planting methods, techniques... to produce truly clean products".

According to Saigongiaiphong