Farmers in the 4.0 era in Nghe An
(Baonghean.vn) - Automatic farms, commodity production, e-commerce platforms, online sales... are gradually becoming familiar concepts to many farmers who have their hands and feet covered in mud. The introduction of technology has created a fundamental premise for a modern and professional agricultural sector.
Dare to think, dare to do
Mr. Nguyen Van Son - Director of Phu Thinh Agricultural and Service Cooperative in Hung Nguyen district is one of the first people to plant strawberries.scale of production of goodsin Nghe An.
“Many people are still worried about whether the strawberry plants brought to Nghe An are suitable for planting. But now, in the 5th year, the plants are growing very well, and I even expect to produce more delicious strawberries, more famous than those in cold regions. If you dare to bet on the future, anything is possible, as long as you have knowledge, dare to learn and apply,” Son shared.
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Strawberries grown by Nguyen Van Son on Hung Nguyen land. Photo: PH |
After graduating from university with a degree in biology, Mr. Son went to study for a year in Israel - a country with a highly developed high-tech agriculture in extremely harsh natural conditions. With more experience working at TH Group in the greenhouse field, in 2019, Mr. Son boldly quit his job to become a "4.0 farmer".
On an area of 2,500 m2 In Hung Khanh commune, a greenhouse of 1,100 m2invested in construction, with an automatic irrigation system, applying IOT (Internet of Things) technology, with the advantage of almost completely automatically recognizing nutrients in the soil, temperature, light to automatically adjust the care regimen to the most reasonable level.
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| Nguyen Van Son, Director of Phu Thinh Agricultural and Service Cooperative in a greenhouse growing melons. Photo: PH |
For over 3 years now, Mr. Son has grown all kinds of high-value crops in the greenhouse and the surrounding clean production land, such as strawberries, melons, and cucumbers. The products are of very high quality, completely clean, beautifully designed, highly productive, and have higher prices, but retail and wholesale customers have never been absent. Visitors to the garden not only buy products, but also experience, visit, and learn about the production process of each type of crop.
We have OCOP-recognized melon products; with the support and connection of the province, in addition to social media promotion channels, the cooperative will actively promote products on e-commerce platforms, supermarkets and large distribution systems to have a stable consumption direction and high value.
From the initial successes, Phu Thinh Agricultural and Service Cooperative continues to implement additional agricultural production projects combined with agricultural tourism in Cua Lo Town, with a variety of fruit gardens, grapes, melons, roses, and a 0.5-hectare greenhouse.
In addition to rice, in recent years, Yen Thanh district is also famous for its products.Orange Xa Doaigrown on the hilly land of Dong Thanh and Minh Thanh communes... Mr. Truong Van Bien - owner of an orange farm in Dong Trung hamlet, Dong Thanh commune said: Although it has been planted for 9 years, the orange garden still yields nearly 30 tons/ha, the fruit is juicy and beautiful, always selling for 40,000 - 50,000 VND/kg in the garden.
“The orange garden has an automatic irrigation system, just press a button and the whole garden is watered, not only saving labor and water, but also spraying very evenly, ensuring just enough water for the orange trees to grow” - Mr. Bien shared. To have a high-yield, good-quality orange garden, he sought technical advice from an expert from the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences. In addition to caring according to the VietGAP process, Mr. Bien also uses hot peppers, garlic, and ginger to mix into biological pesticides.
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| Nghe An has many orange growing areas invested in by "4.0 farmers" who grow and care for them according to VietGAP procedures, creating the Vinh Orange brand. Photo: Xuan Hoang |
Thanks to that, while many orange gardens are in a state of early degeneration, his family's 5 hectares of oranges still grow and produce good fruit, safe products and are trusted by consumers.
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Duong - Vice Chairman of Yen Thanh District People's Committee: Up to now, nearly 400 hectares of oranges in the area have basically applied the automatic drip irrigation process. Along with other technical solutions, the quality of orange products and the selling price are always high.
Not only in production, but also in consumption, with support from the State and the agility and grasp of trends, Yen Thanh farmers have had many good ways such as participating in livestream, connecting with customers, promoting and selling on social networks...
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| Cherry tomato growing model in greenhouse of farmers in Quynh Luong commune (Quynh Luu). Photo: Thanh Phuc |
In addition to oranges, Yen Thanh also has commercial black apple snail products that have been brought to market.E-commerce Platform, known to customers in many provinces and cities, there are times when the supply is not enough to supply the market. In addition, up to now, in the district, there are nearly 1,000 hectares of rice that have been synchronously mechanized from sowing trays to machine transplanting.
Many livestock farms apply high technology in automatic feeding and drinking trough systems, waste treatment, and investment in cooling and heating systems for barns such as Mr. Le Cong Chat's farm in Khanh Thanh commune with a scale of 1,000 pigs, Mr. Le Van Hung's farm in Tien Thanh commune with a scale of 12,000 chickens...
The entire Yen Thanh district has nearly 30 greenhouses invested in and applying modern, automatic production technology, mainly producing high-quality vegetables, tubers, and fruits, ensuring food safety.
Inevitable trend
If high-tech agriculture focuses on changing production methods from traditional to modern, then agriculture 4.0 is about changing agricultural management methods, paving the way for precise and rigorous production activities without the need for humans to be directly present.
In the world, 4.0 technology is currently a trend, a choice that helps the agriculture of many countries achieve important achievements. In line with that general trend, in Vietnam, the backward, fragmented, small-scale agricultural production that has existed for hundreds of years has gradually been replaced by advanced, concentrated and increasingly commodity-based production methods.
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Many Nghe An farmers have learned to use information technology to sell agricultural products through e-commerce platforms. Photo: Thanh Phuc |
In Nghe An, there are also more and more farmers who dare to think, dare to do, boldly approach, invest, and apply scientific and technological advances in production. Along with the participation of businesses, honest farmers have also been gradually changing their production methods and thinking to create a concentrated, high-quality volume of goods, as well as finding a way to consume more stably and with higher value.
Encouraging farmers to move towards modern and sustainable agricultural production, in recent years, Nghe An has had many mechanisms and policies to support people in land consolidation and plot exchange, creating capital for production.transfer of scientific and technological advancesas well as searching for markets, participating in fairs, putting products on e-commerce platforms...
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Many agricultural products of Nghe An have participated in fairs, increasing their value. Photo courtesy of Viet Phuong |
In particular, through the One Commune, One Product (OCOP) Program with support mechanisms for brand building, product promotion and product monitoring, classification and upgrading processes, farmers have increasingly kept pace with new agricultural practices, paying attention to quality, technological processes, brand value, aiming for sustainable production and value enhancement.
According to Mr. Nguyen Van De - Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, although there are still many difficulties and challenges on the journey to build agriculture 4.0, this is still a direction that the province and the industry are interested in and support. With the dynamism, creativity, daring to think and dare to do of farmers, agriculture 4.0 will be one of the important "levers" to help Nghe An develop, towards an effective and sustainable agricultural economy.
