Many communes in Thanh Chuong are attached to sugarcane.

Mr. Nguyen Tien Long and many households in Trung Village, Thanh Linh Commune, Thanh Chuong District harvest sugarcane. Photo: Tran Dinh Ha

These days, Mr. Nguyen Tien Long's family and many households in Trung Village, Thanh Linh Commune (Thanh Chuong) are very excited to enter the sugarcane harvest season. On the 2-hectare area in Trai Ho area that he bid for from the commune, which was previously mainly used to grow corn and potatoes, now switching to growing sugarcane has brought in much higher income. Mr. Long said: "This is a poor, infertile land that has encroached on Thanh Thinh and Thanh Huong communes, so the protection work is very difficult, it has been abandoned for many years, now I and some households have bid to grow sugarcane for a very stable income. This year, it is estimated that each hectare will yield about 65 tons, earning over 60 million VND, much higher than growing corn. Sugarcane has the advantage of being planted once, and the crop must be replanted every 3 years, so it saves a lot of costs and labor."

After attracting a cassava starch factory to operate in the area for 15 years now, the whole district has stabilized 2,500 - 3,000 hectares of cassava each year. Cassava is truly a crop that eliminates hunger and reduces poverty, but it is also a crop that causes soil erosion and reduces productivity very quickly, and the market is unstable.

In that situation, Thanh Chuong district coordinated with Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company to organize sugarcane planting. A typical example is Mr. Nguyen Van Tuat in Mai Tan hamlet, Nghia Hoan commune, Tan Ky district - a shareholder of Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company - rented 50 hectares of land in Thanh Van commune to grow sugarcane, earning billions of dong. However, after a few years of implementation, due to small-scale, fragmented arrangements, far from traffic routes, and people not being familiar with sugarcane planting, the overall efficiency was not high.

Determining that sugarcane is still an economic crop suitable for the local land, soil and climate conditions, in recent years the district and communes have still proposed a policy of growing sugarcane. Currently, sugarcane has been brought to communes with large areas of fertile land such as Thanh Lam, Thanh Xuan... with a total area of ​​over 200 hectares. This area is mainly planted on land that was previously specialized in growing cassava. Ms. Tran Thi Ha in Xuan Quynh hamlet, Thanh Xuan commune said: "Sugarcane is a plant that is not picky about soil. After many years of growing cassava on poor soil, in recent years we switched to growing sugarcane. Unexpectedly, the yield is high, each hectare can reach 70 tons. We are very excited to have found a suitable crop to rotate cassava."

Thanh Linh (Thanh Chuong) farmers harvest sugarcane. Photo: Tran Dinh Ha

According to Mr. Nguyen Ba Quy - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company, the company always considers Thanh Chuong as a potential land but needs to invest heavily, forming a large raw material area to bring scientific and technical advances into production to be effective. Currently, there are some households growing sugarcane with a yield of 110 tons/ha. The company wishes to expand the sugarcane growing area in Thanh Chuong and in the coming time, Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company will cooperate with households in Phong Thinh, Thanh Van, Thanh Lam communes to develop sugarcane in the direction of farms and fully mechanize the land preparation stage.

Mr. Tran Phi Hung - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thanh Chuong district also said: In order to diversify crops, the district still plans to grow sugarcane every year but only focuses on some communes with large areas of fertile land. The initial results in Thanh Xuan and Thanh Lam communes are good signs. The district will work with communes and people to evaluate the results, review the land fund to assign to localities to grow concentrated sugarcane, facilitating intensive investment, harvesting and transporting products. Sugarcane will be grown to rotate with cassava, striving to reach 500 hectares and higher in the coming years.

With the characteristics of not being picky about soil, productivity, stable income of over 60 million VND/ha, each planting can be continued for 3 years, sugarcane is still the plant chosen by many communes in Thanh Chuong district.