Exploiting the potential of alluvial land along Lam River

(Baonghean) - Alluvial land along Lam River in the province has about 20,000 hectares, concentrated in Hung Nguyen, Nam Dan, Thanh Chuong, Do Luong, Anh Son districts... The advantage of fertile alluvial land, along with farmers converting seedlings and applying scientific and technical advances in production, has brought high economic efficiency.

Farmers in Thanh Giang commune (Thanh Chuong) sow spring peanuts on alluvial land.

Coming to Thanh Giang commune, Thanh Chuong district at this time, corn plants on the alluvial land are lush and green, stretching along both banks of the Lam River. According to the people, growing corn is the easiest, easy to do, easy to care for and easy to sell. Corn has never been unsold; fresh corn costs 4,000 - 4,200 VND/kg, while dried corn costs 6,500 VND/kg. Ms. Nguyen Thi Xuan in hamlet 8 has 1.5 sao of alluvial land and "borrowed" more land from another household to sow spring corn, a total of 5 sao. Ms. Xuan said: “5 sao of corn in the coastal area is the main source of income for the whole family. The average corn yield is 8 quintals/sao, the income of 2 crops per year is more than 8 million VND, and if we do 3 crops, it is about 10 million VND. In addition to growing corn, my family also raises buffalo, chickens, and pigs because we have enough green food and starch. For a long time, some people in the commune have organized to buy products for the people, then sell them to businesses outside the province, so we do not have to worry much about the output.”

Vice Chairman of Thanh Giang commune, Mr. Tran Dinh Tho said: Thanh Giang has a total area of ​​​​fertile land of 80 hectares, of which there are up to 65 hectares of alluvial land along the Lam River bank, spanning 8/8 hamlets. Alluvial land is the main cultivated land of the people, which is produced 3 crops a year, in which corn is considered the main source of income for farmers. Thanks to the application of science and technology, introducing hybrid corn varieties, new corn with high yield such as NK 7328, BO265... has contributed to increasing the average yield to nearly 400 kg/sao, after deducting costs, earning a profit of about 60 million VND/ha/crop.

On the alluvial land of Thanh Linh commune, green squash is grown. Currently, the squash plants are in the stage of “climbing” up the trellis. In the summer-autumn squash crop of 2014, Thanh Linh farmers had a good harvest with a yield of 2.8 - 3 tons/sao. Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa - one of the households with many years of experience growing green squash in Hong village excitedly boasted: "The alluvial soil is very good, no need to spend much on fertilizer but the plants just grow rapidly. When I realized that green squash is a relatively easy plant to grow, with much higher economic efficiency than corn, since 2009 I have switched to growing this plant twice a year. After only 3 months of care, each sao of squash yields 3 tons. Like the last summer-autumn crop, the price of squash increased to 7,000 VND/kg, an increase of 1,500 VND compared to the spring crop, and traders came to buy directly from the field, so everyone was excited. In the last squash crop, after deducting the cost of nearly 1.5 million VND, I had a profit of 16 million VND/9 meters of land. There were times when the price of squash was up to more than 10,000 VND/kg, the value of the squash garden was many times higher. In addition to providing high income, compared to other crops, green squash is considered It is easy to care for, has few pests, and the products can be preserved for a long time after harvest, so it limits the situation of being forced down by traders.

Hung Linh Commune (Hung Nguyen) is a locality located along the 42nd Dike, the whole commune has 230 hectares of alluvial land/350 hectares of agricultural land distributed mainly outside the dike. The remaining part is alluvial land located between residential land and alluvial land of Khanh Son Commune (Nam Dan). Every year, during the rainy season, most of this land area is flooded and often fluctuates due to changes in water flow. Mr. Ho Quang Thong - Chairman of Hung Linh Agricultural Cooperative said: In order to stabilize the annual production area and create conditions for converting crop structure and increasing crops, since the 1980s, the Party Committee and People's Committee of the commune have focused on directing the planning of alluvial land. Previously, people only cultivated 1 crop/year on alluvial land, so the economic efficiency was not high.

By 2004, implementing the spirit of Decree 64 of the Government on land allocation for production, the alluvial land was divided into hamlets and groups, with an average of over 100m2/person. The commune arranged to change the crop structure and plan production areas by bringing short-term crops on the alluvial land suitable for production conditions such as beans, vegetables, glutinous corn, sweet potatoes, but in general, it was still fragmented, and production on the alluvial land was still difficult. By June 2014, the Resolution of the Commune People's Council issued a decision approving the project of land consolidation and plot exchange; for alluvial land, it was organized to demarcate and define production areas for 1, 2, 3 crops, and areas for livestock grazing, perennial crop growing areas, etc.

Following the direction, Hung Linh commune has deployed production zoning; the alluvial area with about 30 hectares in hamlets 1B and 3 is for grazing buffalo and cows; over 60 hectares of alluvial land in hamlets 1A, 1B, hamlets 2 and 3 focus on producing bean models and various summer-autumn vegetables. The commune arranges production for 3 crops/year and provides a separate mechanism for people to protect the environment and crops, while grazing and developing livestock. Thanks to the creation of a reserve food source from corn on alluvial land, plus the large, fertile natural grassland environment, it is very favorable for livestock development in the area, especially the movement of fattening buffalo and cows in the alluvial areas along the river.

The whole province has 20,000 hectares of alluvial land, concentrated in 7 districts along the lower Lam River. Many alluvial localities have advantages in developing commodity production, with a high level of intensive farming and quick market thinking. For example, in Hung Nhan commune, people have also used drilled wells to irrigate the vegetable growing area on alluvial land; the whole commune has built 6 high-income conversion models in the form of intercropping, in which the models of spring peanuts, summer-autumn melons, winter corn and vegetables bring an income of over 250 million VND/ha/year. Or the model of growing watermelon on alluvial land in Nam Tan and Nam Loc communes (Nam Dan) has been invested in water pumps by people to irrigate the melons during drought, bringing an income of nearly 7 million VND/sao... Besides promoting the potential and strengths of alluvial land, for a long time, some localities and fertile lands have been abandoned due to many different reasons; such as difficulties in infrastructure, irrigation systems, some unstable geological areas because in reality the alluvial land is flooded every year due to heavy rain and floods, so exploitation and investment are not easy...

In Hung Nguyen district, the area of ​​alluvial land along the Lam River is quite large with over 1,000 hectares in 9 communes. In recent years, the policy and effectiveness of the district's crop restructuring are most clearly demonstrated in the riverside alluvial economic zone. Previously, this fertile land area was mainly used to grow corn and beans of all kinds. In the past 4 years, the district has put it into exploitation in the direction of growing spring peanuts, then growing hot peppers, vegetables, carrots, especially in areas with intensive farming conditions, focusing on growing hot peppers for export under contracts signed with enterprises, according to which farmers will be provided and supported with seeds, care techniques and guaranteed product consumption. To promote the economic efficiency of this land, Hung Nguyen has developed a "Project for developing the alluvial economic zone until 2020", which clearly identifies the restructuring direction, converting all of more than 1,000 hectares of alluvial land to growing vegetables and food for export.

In particular, in addition to 350 hectares of various vegetables, the remaining area will specialize in producing spices. The district supports 30% of the project value to invest in building traffic infrastructure, power lines, irrigation, etc. But according to Mr. Phan Van Truong - Head of the district's Agriculture Department: "By 2015, the amount of money from the district budget invested in economic development of the beach area was 4.6 billion VND, by 2020 it was 21 billion VND. However, to be able to develop and exploit the full potential of the beach area, there are still many problems. The province still does not have a satisfactory mechanism and policy in supporting investment in building infrastructure to serve production such as power lines, traffic and especially irrigation, and has not invested in building to replicate beach area models. Enterprises mainly sell seeds and fertilizers, but have not coordinated much with localities and people in production and consumption of products".

Discussing this issue, Mr. Truong Minh Chau - Head of the Department of Crop Production of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said: The effectiveness of crops on alluvial land is still uncertain. In the spring crop, the stage when corn is flowering and peanuts are flowering often encounter severe drought without irrigation water. In the winter crop, corn and other crops are easily flooded, so adjusting the crop season and selecting crops to ensure productivity is difficult. In addition, investment in developing crops and livestock on alluvial land is still limited. For a long time, the areas that have effectively developed crops on alluvial land are mainly those that have mobilized internal resources to invest in intensive farming, invested in irrigation wells, electricity grids and natural conditions on alluvial land are more favorable than other alluvial land areas.

One of the reasons why crops have not been developed widely is because of irregular floods, which makes people unable to proactively arrange the season; thinking and farming practices are still old-fashioned, not dynamic and bold in trying other crops for better efficiency. Due to difficulties in irrigation, to strongly develop agricultural production in the alluvial areas, it is necessary to change the crop structure towards using crops with low irrigation water needs such as fruit trees, flowers, ornamental plants, grass for livestock, etc. Low-lying areas where one-crop rice is grown inefficiently and unused water surfaces need to be invested in switching to the VAC model. Forming concentrated, specialized agricultural production areas in areas that can solve irrigation problems well. Areas with favorable market conditions and production experience need to invest in growing crops with high economic value such as medicinal plants, safe vegetables, etc.

Ngoc Anh