Hundreds of farmers make pesticides from herbs

(Baonghean.vn) - Instead of using chemicals to prevent pests for crops, many farmers in Anh Son district have mixed their own pesticides using environmentally friendly herbs.

For nearly 3 years now, Ms. Dinh Thi Lien's family in village 9, Tao Son commune has only used pesticides made from herbal ingredients produced by the family. Photo: Thai Hien

For nearly 3 years now, Ms. Dinh Thi Lien's family in village 9, Tao Son commune has been using pesticides made from herbal ingredients that the family has mixed themselves. The ingredients are chili, garlic, ginger... which are readily available in the countryside. This product not only limits pests and diseases on vegetables and fruit trees, but is also safe for users, environmentally friendly and helps Ms. Lien's family reduce production costs and improve economic efficiency.

Ms. Lien shared: “In 2015, after being advised by a company on how to make pesticides using simple materials such as garlic, chili, ginger and alcohol to prevent pests on squash plants, my family tried to mix and spray on 0.5 hectares. After 1 week of testing, the squash plants grew well, had a high fruit set rate and especially killed and prevented pests from growing, so Ms. Lien's family started spraying on nearly 2 hectares of squash.

The ingredients for mixing the pesticide mixture are quite simple, including: garlic, chili, ginger, alcohol... Photo: Thai Hien

Not only preventing pests for the squash area, in the summer-autumn crop of 2016, Ms. Lien's family also boldly tested this herbal preparation on 1 sao of rice field to produce safe rice. As a result, after harvesting, the rice yield reached 2.5 quintals/sao, not inferior to other fields fertilized with fertilizers and chemicals.

According to Ms. Lien’s experience, this homemade medicine contains a high acid content, so it can kill pests that damage crops. In particular, the product does not pollute the environment or water sources, is cheap, and is very safe.

Like Lien's family, Nguyen Thi Thanh Tam's family in village 9, Tao Son commune, this spring crop also sprayed all 3 sao of squash of the family. Thanks to the use of pesticides extracted from herbs, the number of pests has decreased significantly, the cost of spraying has decreased by 40% - 50%. This method is applied by Tam's family to other crops.

According to Ms. Tam's instructions, it is not difficult to make this pesticide. You only need to prepare a few ingredients: 1 kg of garlic, 1 kg of chili, 1 kg of ginger and 3 liters of alcohol. After pounding the above ingredients, mix them with 3 liters of alcohol and soak them in jars or sealed containers for about 10 days so that the ingredients are absorbed into the alcohol. From this solution, you just need to dilute it with water and spray it on the plants. This mixture can kill 85 - 90% of pests. The storage and use time of this homemade medicine is up to 4-5 months.

Currently, Anh Son district has about 100 households using this pesticide to spray on vegetables, fruit trees, and rice. Photo: Thai Hien

With many advantages over other pesticides such as: being able to kill many types of harmful insects and bugs such as silkworms, stem borers, fruit borers, red spiders, green stink bugs... the effectiveness of the drug is long-lasting because the drug is able to kill both eggs, larvae and adults; does not pollute the environment or water sources, so currently not only nearly 100 farming households in Tao Son commune but also many farming households in Cam Son, Dinh Son, Lang Son communes of Anh Son district have applied this method of making pesticides from herbs on crops./.

Thai Hien