Farmers spend their own money to go abroad to learn how to grow tomatoes.

At Lien Khuong intersection (Duc Trong), we have to go another 10km to reach the farm of Nguyen Anh Dung and Nguyen Phu Quoc. The road leading to the farm is paved with flat asphalt, with coffee gardens on both sides. Robusta coffee trees laden with fruit stand in rows under the scattered jackfruit coffee trees. Then gardens of tomatoes, eggplants, sweet peppers, and chili peppers appear one after another. Greenhouses and net houses are growing more than a dozen different types of tomatoes, including three high-tech tomato farms that the brothers took the trouble to go to Malaysia to "learn from the masters".

Go to Malaysia to learn how to grow tomatoes.

Anh Quoc said that when he first started high-tech agriculture, because he mainly followed his habits, the plants did not grow as expected. While he was still wondering what to do, he heard from a Dutch seed company that Malaysia was preparing for a seminar on high-tech tomato cultivation in Southeast Asia. “I have heard about high-tech agriculture in Malaysia for a long time, but I never thought that one day I would go there to see how people do it.

Only when the tomatoes I grew were not as expected, I paid attention, contacted their schedule and invited two other farmers, Nguyen Anh Dung (in Duc Trong) and Nguyen Minh Cuong (in Don Duong) to go with me," said Mr. Quoc. In September 2013, three Lam Dong farmers spent their own money to buy plane tickets to Malaysia to see how people do agriculture even though they did not know English. Fortunately, thanks to the connection of the seed company and the support of agricultural experts, the whole five-day trip cost each person only more than 10 million VND.

Leading us into a greenhouse where the tomato plants were over 2m tall but had many yellow leaves, Mr. Quoc explained: “It’s much better now, but when I planted them a month ago, the leaves were so yellow that I thought I would have to throw them away. This is a batch of tomatoes grown using the technology I did myself before going to Malaysia, so the results are so bad. As for the tomato plants after the trip to Malaysia, on the other side, they are worth every penny.” Mr. Quoc said that the area of ​​high-tech tomato plants is currently divided into four houses. Apart from the first batch with yellow tips that has been treated, the rest are “absolutely beautiful”. Indeed, right next to the first greenhouse is a second greenhouse, but it looks completely different. The entire area of ​​over 2,000m2 is lush with the color of tomato leaves in their prime. The strong tomato plants cling to the vines and spread their leaves to both sides. And in the middle of the trunk, there are tons of tomatoes of all sizes, plump and shiny-skinned.

Tomatoes here are not grown in soil but on inert substrates (bags of substrate about 20cm high placed on the ground), a mixture of coconut fiber and burnt rice husks, which contain almost no nutrients or water and only serve to support the roots. The advantage of using substrates is that when the season is over, they can be taken out to dry and then planted three times in a row before having to be replaced.

While growing tomatoes on land, it is usually only possible to grow 1-2 crops before the soil becomes infected and cannot be grown, and another crop must be grown the following year before tomatoes can be grown again. "Not only that, when growing on land, when the plant has eaten all the nutrients in the soil and we do not know how to replenish them in time, the plant will die or the product quality will not be guaranteed" - Mr. Dung shared. In the high-tech tomato growing process, the difference is in managing nutrition according to the age of the plant. The entire supply of water and nutrients to the plant will be handled by the drip irrigation system.

The system waters the tomato garden seven times a day, with the nutrient content mixed into the water depending on the stage of plant growth. In addition, the entire growing area is surrounded by nets and roof membranes to avoid direct exposure to rain and sun, limit the penetration of unwanted insects, and better manage diseases.

Duc Trong farmers visit high-tech vegetable farm in Malaysia

"Learn a lot"

Mr. Nguyen Anh Dung said that since following the knowledge of the experts, the farmers in the recent trip to Malaysia knew for sure that they had made several times more money than they spent. “Before that, we tried many times at home but did not know how to do it, did not know how to manage and use fertilizers. When we came back, we saw that it was much better. Just looking at the old tomatoes compared to the new garden, we could tell right away. It is true that a day of travel teaches a lot of knowledge,” said Mr. Dung. Mr. Quoc said that the workshop on tomato growing media in Malaysia had experts from countries in the region such as Thailand and Indonesia.

He concluded: “After attending five days of seminars and visiting gardens, I realized that people do agriculture very differently from us. Malaysians grow high-tech tomatoes as simply as they grow corn in our country. When I went there, I understood why they can export while we cannot. Because they use industrial varieties, the care process is the same, and the products are uniform in size, color, and quality.”

If managed well, from planting to harvest it takes nine months, with an average of six months. This first crop is expected to yield 5-6kg of fruit per plant, and then the yield can be increased to 10kg/plant. Now the yield has reached over 120 tons/ha, three times higher than that grown outdoors. Not only is the yield high, but growing using high-tech processes indoors avoids rain and sun, so very little pesticides are used. Nutrients are well managed, so the quality of tomatoes analyzed is much better than that grown outdoors. Currently, all of the three brothers' products are purchased by Phong Thuy Company Limited (Duc Trong).

Anh Quoc said that when he went to Cameron Highlands (Malaysia), the climate conditions were similar to Da Lat in Vietnam, but more than 80% was used for high-tech agriculture. High-tech agriculture is very simple and easy, not like what I thought. The scale of 100-200m2 is also high-tech, growing tomatoes is as easy as growing corn in our country. There are also not many intermediaries there like in Vietnam, retailers bring containers to the farm, farmers harvest them, put them in containers and send them to distributors, there are no traders coming to the garden to order like in our country.

Not only did they learn how to do high-tech agriculture, the recent trip also gave Lam Dong farmers a new idea, which is to do agricultural tourism. Mr. Dung said that almost all Malaysian farms are tourist destinations. "I am dreaming of a day when, on the way from Da Lat to Lien Khuong airport or returning to Ho Chi Minh City by road, tourists will visit the farms, hand-pick tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers, or other vegetables as gifts or cook meals for their families," said Mr. Dung.

According to rural economy