Nghe An: Farmers' Association takes responsibility for cultivating abandoned land.
(Baonghean.vn) - The abandonment of farmland is quite common, especially during the summer-autumn crop season. To avoid wasting valuable land, a good solution has emerged in Nghe An: the Farmers' Association is taking on the responsibility of cultivating abandoned land.
WHEN FARMERS' ASSOCIATIONS LEASE WASTE LAND FOR CULTIVATION
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| What was once unproductive land, with many abandoned crops, has now been transformed into a specialized commercial pumpkin farming area managed by the Farmers' Association of Thanh Tien commune (Thanh Chuong district). Photo: Thanh Phuc |
The Rào Trẹ floodplain (Thanh Tiên commune, Thanh Chương district) is frequently flooded, resulting in low yields for corn and cassava cultivation, leading to the land often being abandoned and overgrown with weeds. For the 2021 summer-autumn crop season, the Thanh Tiên Commune Farmers' Association, through the commune government, leased 1 hectare of land from 8 households in the Rào Trẹ area to cultivate green pumpkins at a price of 800,000 VND per sao (approximately 1000 square meters).
After taking responsibility for the land, the Farmers' Association of the commune mobilized its branches to participate in the model.Growing zucchini according to VietGAP standards.According to calculations, one sao (approximately 1000 square meters) of green squash yields about 4 tons of fruit. With the current rock-bottom price (3,000 - 3,500 VND/kg), the profit is still many times higher than growing corn or rice.
Mr. Duong Dac Thang, Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Thanh Tien commune (Thanh Chuong district), said: "Due to a shortage of manpower and low production efficiency, people are not enthusiastic about farming, and many fields are left fallow, especially during the summer-autumn crop season. In 2021, the commune has a plan..."land accumulation"The land of households that do not need to produce crops can be leased to farmers to build new models and introduce economically efficient crops into production. This will reduce the area of abandoned land and avoid wasting land resources. At the same time, it will expand and build specialized areas for cash crops on less productive land."
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| Previously, securing a continuous rice crop area for the summer-autumn season in the flooded Thanh Xuan district was a major challenge. However, since the Farmers' Association's model of leasing land to grow organic rice, generating hundreds of millions of dong in income per season, has encouraged farmers to stay in their fields and continue production. Photo: Thanh Phuc |
For flood-prone areas like Thanh Xuan, securing a full summer-autumn crop has always been a challenging issue. In the spring of 2021, the Farmers' Association of Thanh Xuan commune took the lead in contracting 5 hectares of low-lying land to cultivate organic rice. With support in terms of seeds and fertilizers, the Thanh Xuan Farmers' Association harvested 15 tons of rice on these 5 hectares, selling the fresh rice at 7 million VND per ton, earning hundreds of millions of VND.
Thanks to the economic benefits, in the 2021 summer-autumn crop season, the organic rice farming model continued to be implemented on an area of 5 hectares in the flood-prone Thanh Xuan district, under the leadership of the commune's Farmers' Association.
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| The 3-hectare fruit farm is leased from 5% of the commune's land, owned by the Thanh My Commune Farmers' Association (Thanh Chuong District). Photo: Thanh Phuc |
The Con Ba area (Thanh My commune) is part of the 5% land allocated to the people for production. However, due to the low yield of cassava cultivation, some land was left fallow, while others were used for growing grass for livestock, but the economic efficiency was low. To avoid wasting land, in 2018, the commune mobilized households to consolidate land and lease it to the Farmers' Association for the cultivation of commercial fruit trees. Seven farmer members improved the land, invested in irrigation systems, extended electricity to the fields, and planted apples and guavas on 3 hectares, intercropping with other crops, initially yielding a decent income.
To date, the District Farmers' Association has successfully directed and developed six models of farmers leasing land for cultivation. Specifically, they leased land to grow green pumpkins in Thanh Lien, Thanh Tien, and Thanh Hoa communes; leased land to grow fruit trees in Thanh My; leased land to grow commercial potatoes in Thanh Yen; and leased land to grow organic rice in Thanh Xuan, with a total area of nearly 30 hectares. These models will be expanded throughout the district in the near future.
TO PREVENT LAND FROM BEING LEFT ABANDONED, FIELDS MUST "GENERATE PROFIT"
In recent years, agricultural production has faced many difficulties, and not a few...Farmers abandon their fields.The fact that the Farmers' Association, through the commune government, has taken on the responsibility of contracting out cultivation and production, and has brought about clear economic benefits, proves that farming can still be profitable if one knows how to change their mindset and production methods.
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| Land consolidation through leasing and the introduction of mechanization into production will solve the problem of labor shortages and save production costs. Photo: Thanh Phuc |
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Khanh, Chairman of the Thanh Chuong District Farmers' Association, stated: "Farming is unprofitable due to limited land area, the inability to introduce machinery into production, resulting in a shortage of manpower and low efficiency. The model of the Farmers' Association leasing land for farming is clear evidence that land consolidation, mechanization in production, and a rational crop structure will bring profits. Once profits are achieved, farmers will not abandon their fields. In other words, through this model, farmers can live off their land and remain attached to their homeland for the long term."
Statusabandoned agricultural landThis situation is not unique to Thanh Chuong but is quite common in many localities throughout the province and the country. In some years, the area of abandoned land during the summer-autumn crop season reaches 3,000-4,000 hectares. The causes have been analyzed and discussed at numerous forums and conferences. Accordingly, the shortage of agricultural labor is at an alarming level.
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| Machine transplanting of seedlings in trays in Thanh Lien commune (Thanh Chuong district). Photo: Thanh Phuc |
In fact, over the years, many businesses or individuals have taken the initiative to consolidate agricultural land for the development of commercial agricultural production. These models have proven to be economically effective. However, due to numerous procedural obstacles, the fear of "losing their land" among farmers, and the difficulties in land consolidation, thousands of hectares of agricultural land remain abandoned despite the businesses' need to consolidate land for production.
Therefore, while waiting for those obstacles to be resolved, the approach taken by Thanh Chuong district should be promoted and replicated.
“Young laborers are leaving for work elsewhere or joining factories and workshops in the area, resulting in a shortage and weakness of skilled agricultural workforce. But this is ‘natural’ because farming itself is not economically viable. Therefore, to keep farmers committed to their fields, there is no other way than to consolidate land, mechanize production, and restructure crops… in order to achieve the highest economic efficiency. When farming becomes profitable and labor is freed up, people will stay on their land and strive to become wealthy in their homeland.”
