Effectiveness of agricultural extension models in Quy Hop
As a bridge to bring scientific and technological advances to farmers, in recent years, the Agricultural Extension - Fisheries Extension Station of Quy Hop district has organized and implemented many effective crop and livestock farming models to help people change their farming practices, increase their income and develop their household economy.
(Baonghean) -As a bridge to bring scientific and technological advances to farmers, in recent years, the Agricultural Extension - Fisheries Extension Station of Quy Hop district has organized and implemented many effective crop and livestock farming models to help people change their farming practices, increase their income and develop their household economy.
Being a mountainous district, the rice-growing land is steep and often eroded. In addition, due to the backward farming practices of the majority of the people, the rice productivity in the district is low. In recent times, this situation has been reduced after farmers applied the method of fertilizing with deep pellets. This is a model built by the district's Agricultural and Fisheries Extension Station since 2009.
Mr. Phan Thanh Tam, Head of the Agricultural Extension Station, said: When transplanting, rice plants will be fertilized by burying mixed fertilizer pellets about 7cm deep in the ground. Applying this method to production, farmers will gain many benefits. The situation of leaching will be greatly reduced, and fertilizer will not evaporate. Because the hard compressed fertilizer pellets will slowly dissolve in the soil, the rice plants will fully absorb nutrients. From here, the plants will grow well, produce strong tillers, and have higher resistance to pests and diseases. As a result, rice productivity will increase by 15-20%.
Green asparagus growing model of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Cau's family
(Son Thanh hamlet, Tam Hop commune).
Chau Dinh commune is one of the first localities to implement this model. Mr. Le Dung Hung, an agricultural extension officer of Chau Dinh commune, said: Initially, only a few households implemented it, but now people in the commune have followed it and it has become a habit and awareness in production. Because the economic efficiency of applying this method has been proven in practice. Because of only fertilizing once for the whole crop and limiting pesticides, people's input costs are reduced by about 30-40 thousand VND/sao of rice field. In addition, people also benefit from the output of 180-200 thousand VND/sao due to increased productivity.
After the model was completed, the agricultural extension station organized training and transferred scientific and technological advances to thousands of households across the district. Realizing the effectiveness of this production method, farmers enthusiastically implemented it. Up to now, after 4 years of organizing the model, the whole district has 16 communes learning and following it. To provide enough fertilizer for the people, the district People's Committee has granted more than 200 million VND to buy 5 fertilizer presses for 5 communes including Chau Quang, Chau Dinh, Chau Loc, Chau Cuong and Dong Hop. With a capacity of pressing about 1 ton of compressed fertilizer pellets per day, it has basically provided enough fertilizer for people to invest in intensive farming.
Diversifying crops, the agricultural extension station has organized many models to transfer scientific and technological applications to farmers, such as the clean vegetable production model in Tam Hop commune; the disease-free sugarcane growing model in Chau Dinh commune; the KB10 acacia growing model using grafting method in Dong Hop commune. The most prominent of these is the green asparagus growing model in Son Thanh hamlet (Tam Hop). This is a plant with high economic efficiency.
Initially, there was only 1 household producing but now there are 8 households following with an area of 2 hectares. Because green asparagus is a new crop, when organizing the model, the agricultural extension station sent staff to directly guide the people on techniques. Thanks to that, the plants grow well and yield high yields, with an average of 3kg/sao harvested per day. With the current selling price of 50,000 VND/kg, each month, farmers earn nearly 5 million VND/sao of asparagus.
The family of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Cau (Son Thanh hamlet, Tam Hop commune) is one of the pioneers in growing green asparagus. Currently, her family has 3 sao of land to grow asparagus. Mrs. Cau said: Growing green asparagus is many times more effective than growing other crops and also helps farmers access scientific and technological advances. Because the harvest cycle lasts from 6-8 years, the initial investment of the people will be greatly reduced.
Currently, all products produced by farmers are purchased by Ha Hiep Company. Moreover, the company also sends technical staff to directly instruct people on how to care for, fertilize and harvest. For households that have just started growing, the company will lend half of the seed cost and after harvesting, it will return the product. Due to the effectiveness that asparagus brings to the people, Tam Hop commune will soon expand the area of asparagus cultivation in two other hamlets, Nam Son and Long Thanh.
Along with cultivation, the District Agricultural Extension Station also focuses on livestock development. In 2011 and 2012, the station has built many livestock models, introduced new breeds, and preserved local breeds such as the pig farming model in Lien Hop commune, lean pork farming to ensure environmental hygiene in Dong Hop commune, duck farming model in Nam Son commune, yellow cow farming model in Chau Ly commune... The models have brought practical results and are gradually being replicated in localities in the district. These models have helped farmers access new scientific and technological advances in livestock farming, share with each other new science and technology in livestock farming, bring high economic efficiency, and contribute to changing the method of small-scale livestock farming to concentrated livestock farming towards commodity production. In particular, proactively providing sources of breeds for families, households in the village, in the commune and other neighboring communes.
By demonstrating agricultural extension models and organizing vocational training courses to combine theory with practice under the motto "hand-holding, vocational training in agricultural production", people have been persuaded and guided to apply new scientific and technological advances. Through farmer forums, people have the opportunity to share and learn from each other about production experiences. Thanks to that, many models have been replicated in mass production, put into practice, contributing to increasing farmers' income and enhancing the value of agricultural production in the district.
Article and photos: Pham Bang
