Hoang Mai: Japanese carrots covered with plastic bring in an income of 15 million/sao

Farmers in Quynh Lien commune (Hoang Mai town) harvest winter carrots. Photo: Thanh Thuy

Mr. Tran Van Co's family in village 3, Quynh Lien commune has 7 sao of land growing Japanese Sister carrots. After preparing the land, making beds, and fertilizing, he bought plastic to cover the entire area and sowed the seeds. After 3 months, the carrots grew well, with large, even roots.

Mr. Van said that this planting method helps to keep the soil moist, saves time weeding and only needs to fertilize once. On the other hand, if planted in the normal way without covering with plastic, when there is heavy rain causing soil erosion, the carrot stems protruding from the ground are often green, which is not favored by traders. When covered with plastic, it helps to prevent soil erosion and the roots turn yellow evenly. With the current selling price of 10,000 VND/kg, each sao of carrots brings in about 15 million VND in income.

Applying plastic covering technique, carrots grow well, with large, even roots. Photo: Thanh Thuy

Japanese carrots are grown by local people in Quynh Lien.3 crops this year. Early crop from July - August; main crop from September - October and late crop from November - December. This is the first crop that Quynh Lien people apply the technique of covering with plastic in growing carrots. Carrots prefer sandy, loose soil, after 3 months they can be harvested with an average yield of 1.3 - 1.5 tons/sao.

At this time, although the weather is very cold, the main carrot crop is not affected. Traders come to the fields to hire people to pull and buy for the people. In addition to selling the roots, the carrot leaves are also used to sell to households raising cattle, deer, and rabbits.

This Japanese carrot variety has many advantages: The leaves are more evenly spread, the leaf layer is not thick, the root length is shorter but the root diameter is quite large, the flavor is sweet and fragrant, the color is bright red...

This winter, traders came to the fields to buy carrots. Photo: Thanh Thuy

The profit from carrots is quite high and easy to consume, so people have boldly applied technical advances to production and expanded the area. From 30 hectares in 2016, this winter crop people have increased the area to 50 hectares.

According to Mr. Ho Ngoc Tang - Chairman of Quynh Lien Commune People's Committee, carrots are currently the main winter crop in the locality. To avoid rampant development leading to oversupply, the commune encourages people not to plant in large quantities, but to study market demand.