Anh Son farmers harvest red sweet potatoes on the field

Ms. Nguyen Thi Tho's family in village 2, Phuc Son commune, has nearly 2 sao of rice field area converted to growing sweet potatoes for many years now. Taking advantage of plowing the first rows of potatoes to deliver to customers in time, Ms. Tho shared: This land is very suitable for growingsweet potato, the quality of potatoes is very good compared to other lands. People here grow potatoes mainly in the winter-spring crop, starting from the 11th lunar month people start planting and harvest at the beginning of the 3rd lunar month.

According to Ms. Tho, growing this sweet potato does not require much care, but mainly fertilizing, stimulating root and tuber growth, and limiting the growth of vines and leaves because experience in growing this plant shows that "good vines harm tubers".

Before planting, her family plowed the soil, sprinkled lime powder to prevent disease, and mixed the soil with manure to increase nutrition. When planting potatoes, they had to make ridges to ensure drainage and avoid the tubers rotting and being eaten by worms.

At this time, people are harvesting sweet potatoes in the fields. Photo: Thai Hien

After 4 months of planting, it will be harvested, 1 sao of sweet potatoes will yield 5-6 quintals. Currently, sweet potatoes have become a specialty because they are a healthy food, good for the body, so they are favored by consumers, so the output is also easy to sell, with the current price depending on the size of the potato, type 1 costs 15,000 VND/kg, small type from 8-12 thousand VND/kg, each sao after deducting costs also gives people an income of 5 million VND.

In addition to the main product of tubers, by-products such as sweet potato roots and vines are also used for livestock farming.

Next to the field, Ms. Tran Thi Sen's family is also harvesting sweet potatoes. Ms. Sen said: Her family has 1.5 sao of rice field but does not have a water source, so for the past 5 years, the family has switched to growing sweet potatoes.

Anh Son farmers harvest potatoes after 4 months of planting. Photo: Thai Hien

Sweet potatoes are easy to grow and have few pests and diseases, but to have a plant with many tubers and uniform tubers, during the planting process, her family is careful in every step from choosing the seeds, preparing the soil to fertilizing according to each stage of the plant's development. The difference of the sweet potato specialty in this region is that the seeds are kept by the people from one season to the next, not brought from other regions. At the end of each season, people take back a small amount of seeds to plant in their home gardens. When the season comes, they cut off the top of the seeds and plant them in the fields. About 15 days after planting, the potatoes take root and start to develop, then fertilize with phosphorus, potassium and decomposed manure to help the plant grow and develop. When harvesting, in addition to choosing a sunny day, when digging, it is necessary to avoid scratching the potatoes so that they can be preserved for a long time and have a higher selling price.

Mr. Nguyen Sy Thang, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Phuc Son Commune, said: Previously, sweet potatoes were mainly used as animal feed, but in recent years, it has become a crop that provides the main income from tubers, contributing to increasing income and improving the lives of farmers.

Sweet potatoes in Phuc Son are mainly grown in the rice fields of Con Ke area, the total area of ​​the commune is more than 15 hectares. 1 hectare of sweet potatoes yields about 10-12 tons of tubers, with prices ranging from 8-15 thousand/kg depending on the type, farmers can earn a profit of about 80-100 million VND after deducting all expenses.

This year the whole districtMr. SonNearly 50 hectares of rice fields without water supply have been converted to sweet potato cultivation to gradually replace ineffective crops. Sweet potatoes are grown mainly in the communes of Phuc Son, Duc Son, and Vinh Son.

From the effectiveness of sweet potato plants, in the coming time, Anh Son district will work with other localities to continue to encourage people to increase the application of science and technology so that sweet potato plants produce uniform tubers, with high productivity and output; focus on building a brand for sweet potatoes to reach markets inside and outside the district.

Anh Son sweet potatoes are grown from native varieties. Photo: Thai Hien