Crop rotation for high economic efficiency in Tan Ky

(Baonghean.vn) Building a highly economically efficient production model is the goal that Tan Ky district is aiming for, to gradually help farmers change their backward self-sufficient production practices to commodity-oriented production, creating concentrated raw material areas for industrial processing. Thanks to development orientation and support policies, during the implementation process, there have been many highly effective models, however, to replicate on a large scale still faces many difficulties...

6 crop rotation formulas

The 6 crop rotation and intensive farming formulas that Tan Ky district has built include: Investing in intensive farming of 2 rice crops combined with raising fish in the 3rd crop; converting from 2 rice crops to 3 crop rotation; converting from ineffective colored land to growing vegetables, melons and corn; expanding the area of ​​mulberry and silkworm farming; converting to intensive sugarcane farming combined with raising fattening cattle and developing grass growing areas for livestock, with the hope of changing the way of doing business and increasing income for people in this land.

To make this a reality, the district has issued mechanisms and policies to encourage development, and at the same time allocated budget resources to support localities in building pilot models. Depending on natural conditions and production practices, specific models will be built. Mr. Nguyen Ba Thuc - Head of Tan Ky Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said: "Despite financial difficulties, the district still invests in supporting fish breeding on an area of ​​20 hectares converted from rice land to fish farming, supporting a model of growing 10 hectares of vegetables and colors in Nghia Phuc and Giai Xuan communes, supporting 5 hectares of watermelon and growing winter vegetables in Nghia Dung commune, supporting planting new grass varieties VA06 in Nghia Dong, converting 2 hectares of land for growing high-yield rice to growing sugarcane in Nghia Dung commune, converting ineffective corn land along the beach to growing mulberry and raising silkworms in Nghia Dong. Thanks to this support, people have boldly invested in implementing crop rotation and intensive farming to create commodity value".

Converting ineffective land to mulberry cultivation for silkworm rearing in Nghia Dong (Tan Ky)

With the attention and strong direction of the district and the efforts of the people, the models are gradually showing their effectiveness. In particular, there are rotation and intensive farming formulas that have created a "breakthrough" in agricultural production in Tan Ky, such as: The formula for converting from ineffective colored land to growing vegetables, melons and corn. From only piloting 5 hectares in Nghia Dung, it has now been widely developed in the commune, and at the same time, this model has been successfully applied by people in Ky Tan, Nghia Hanh, Tan Phuc, and Tan Huong when converting on copper-colored land and high alluvial land with an area of ​​over 78 hectares. According to the calculation of farmers, previously on an area of ​​1 hectare that had not been converted, each year with hard work and favorable weather, the income was only nearly 43 million VND, but after the conversion, the total income increased to nearly 193 million VND. Or the conversion of intensive sugarcane investment combined with fattening cattle is the formula applied on the largest area (1,000 hectares).

Because the district already has a large area of ​​raw sugarcane, only mobilizing and supporting investment for people will be effective in raising fattening cattle. This is an advantage of Tan Ky, so in recent times, people in the Tan Ky sugarcane raw material area have not only had high income thanks to the rapid increase in sugarcane productivity from 60 - 70 tons to 100 - 120 tons/ha, but also developed the profession of raising fattening cattle.

This efficiency is proven by the fact that previously, on the same area of ​​1 hectare of sugarcane, the annual income was only about 39 million VND, but when investing in intensive farming to increase productivity and combining with fattening cattle, the income was more than 68 million VND. Then the movement of raising fish in the third crop in Tan Ky also developed widely with more than 138 hectares, which not long before, only through the district's 20-hectare model of intensive investment in 2 rice crops combined with raising fish in the third crop. Nghia Thai commune is the "locomotive" in raising fish in the third crop, creating the highest economic efficiency, helping people here earn over 80 million VND/ha...

It is a pleasure to know that, in a mountainous district that still faces many difficulties, it has boldly invested in finding new ways of doing business, creating high income for the people and is gradually affirming the right policies and methods. According to the staff of the Tan Ky Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, after implementing 6 rotation and intensive farming formulas, the people have converted 1,821 hectares. These are good models and good methods for Tan Ky to replicate in the coming time.

Things to do

Besides the outstanding results in the implementation of 6 crop rotation and intensive farming formulas, Tan Ky still has a great "inertia", affecting the set goal of converting crop structure. That is due to the characteristics of the mountainous district, uneven educational level of the people, backward production practices, so the movement to convert crop structure, apply scientific and technological advances to production is difficult.

In addition to investing in building models at the grassroots level, Tan Ky Agricultural Extension Center also pays great attention to training and improving the level of intensive farming for people by opening training courses on the process and techniques of producing crops according to the conversion methods. Introducing new varieties with high productivity and quality such as: Hybrid rice varieties TH3-3, PIONNEEPHB71, purebred varieties Materials NA1, BTE1, Nhi Uu 725; corn varieties CP3Q, 30D55, 30Y87, DK9901, B06, NK66, NK 66-54, NK 4300 and peanut variety L23... The "reluctance" of people to invest and apply scientific and technological advances makes economic efficiency not high and especially directly affects the development of models on a large scale. The model of converting 2-rice land to 3-crop rotation has clear economic efficiency and has been proven in practice in Nghia Dung commune, the income before conversion was more than 45 million/ha/year and after conversion reached more than 200 million/ha/year, but due to the customs and production practices of the people, the plan of this model set a target of 100 hectares but only 25 hectares were achieved.

During the conversion process, Tan Ky district still faces difficulties due to the large agricultural land area, arranged on many complex terrains and besides, the irrigation system has not met the requirements of continuous farming, so it is very difficult for people to develop models. Raising fish in the third crop does not have the initiative in water, hilly land, coastal land, copper land, and alluvial land depends entirely on nature, when encountering complex weather conditions, it will be risky, causing damage to people.

In addition, there are inadequacies in mechanisms, policies and especially the investment capital has been limited and spread out and only stopped at the level of model investment which is not enough to stimulate demand to expand production areas. With those obstacles, Tan Ky has great difficulty in changing the crop structure. In fact, the district has only clearly defined the raw material areas focusing on sugarcane and rubber trees, while the remaining crops are still in a fragmented, small-scale and spontaneous development.

Tan Ky has a total annual cultivated area of ​​about 23,570 hectares (of which rice area is 7,108 hectares, corn is 5,956 hectares, peanuts are 1,102 hectares, cassava is 2,226 hectares...). This is a great advantage for the district in investing in the agricultural sector. If the model of crop rotation and intensive farming is well implemented, these will be important driving forces to promote the development of Tan Ky agriculture.

Obviously, the 6 rotation and intensive farming formulas in Tan Ky need to be given due attention and investment, first of all in terms of capital. This important solution, if "unblocked", will have a positive impact on the rapid development of technical infrastructure, crop varieties and acreage... Along with that, the district needs to have specific orientations for each production area with appropriate crop structure and this is the basis for gradually forming concentrated specialized areas. The issue of agricultural extension must also be given attention in the coming time. Doing well in this field, people will change their farming practices, shifting to commodity production.

Hoang Vinh