Nghe An farmers accumulate large production land

(Baonghean) - Since the second land consolidation campaign (2013), the movement of farmers accumulating large-scale production land has developed quite strongly in many localities of Nghe An.

The "new bosses" in the countryside

Cherishing the dream of becoming a “boss” and getting rich in his hometown, after his banana growing business failed and he returned the land to the people, Mr. Dang Quang Hoang, in Hamlet 9, Vien Thanh Commune, Yen Thanh District, rented 6 hectares of fertile land in Cay Truong and Le Ke fields to make a farm. The rental price is calculated at 50 kg of rice/sao/year.

Farmers in Dien Hoa commune (Dien Chau) accumulate land to grow biomass corn. Photo: Quang An

After investing in buying a plow, a furrow maker, and a seeding machine, in 2016, Mr. Hoang signed a contract with Nghi Lam Cow Farm to grow 6 hectares of biomass corn. Despite the unfavorable weather and a lot of effort, he still harvested 200 tons of corn plants, worth 200 million VND.

In early 2017, Mr. Hoang went all the way to Ninh Binh, to find Dong Giao Company to sign a contract to produce soybeans. “I am planning to cooperate with Dong Giao Company to grow Cayen pineapple or chives. These plants are very simple to grow and care for, and the roots can be kept for 2-3 years, with very high economic efficiency. In particular, thanks to the concentrated and synchronized products, I can sign a contract directly with the enterprise, ensuring the product output,” Mr. Hoang shared.

In 2013, Mr. Cao Thanh Ha's family in Hamlet 4, Dien Lien Commune (Dien Chau District) applied to receive land from many households that had abandoned production in the Con Coi area to build a comprehensive farm. After 4 years of construction, Mr. Ha's farm now has over 1,000 laying ducks, 300 chickens, each day he collects 700 - 800 duck eggs, several hundred chicken eggs; in addition, 3 ponds produce 3 - 4 tons of fish/year. At peak times, there were times when Mr. Ha's farm raised several thousand ducks, thousands of chickens, over 100 pigs, not to mention the income from fruit trees.

Currently, in Dien Lien commune, there are many families developing new models. In particular, in recent years, people have introduced red-fleshed dragon fruit and durian jackfruit trees, which can be harvested after only 1-2 years. The whole commune has 22 hectares of dragon fruit intercropped with other trees.

The above models are increasingly appearing in districts and communes in the province, contributing positively to the transformation of production and promoting value on the same unit of area. The core issue for land accumulation models to be effective is the connection between households and enterprises to ensure stable output for agricultural products.

A model of a pig farm combined with fish farming in Hung Tan commune (Hung Nguyen). Photo: Tran Chau

Creating sustainability for centralized production

From effective models, many localities have had policies to encourage farmers to accumulate land and concentrate production. In Dien Lien commune, there are 4 very typical land areas, of which 1 is highland, the remaining 3 are swampy and deep.

Previously, people still produced rice but the efficiency was very low, spring rice yielded 2 quintals/sao and summer-autumn rice yielded only 50-70 kg/sao. After the land consolidation, some households no longer had the need to produce, the commune developed a conversion regulation, gathered land into large plots and contracted some households to develop integrated farms. Thanks to that, up to now, in Dien Lien commune, there are 46 households doing family farm and ranch economy, with a scale of 5,000m2 to 3.5 ha/model.

Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Dien Chau district - Mr. Le The Hieu, said: The district has a support mechanism to develop concentrated production at the level of 5 hectares of concentrated winter crop production supported with 1 million VND/ha for land preparation; converting the crop structure of the first crop is supported with 5 million VND/ha; building high-tech models from 1,000 m2 or more is supported with 50 million VND. At the same time, it creates conditions for people to accumulate land in the form of renting and borrowing land.

The district also plans each production area and farm to be allocated to households in need. Up to now, all communes have 20 - 50 hectares of farm land/commune, the whole district has 259 farms with a scale of 2 hectares or more, with an average income of 250 million/ha.

Land consolidation to develop sugarcane cultivation in Tan Ky district. Photo: Phuong Thao

The trend of land accumulation into farms is considered inevitable in agricultural development in Nghe An. Farmers' production thinking is better in the direction of commodity production and concentration.

According to statistics, the province currently has 74 farms with contracts with input product suppliers; 14 farms with contracts with product processing enterprises; 104 farms with contracts with product consumption enterprises. At the same time, the farms also pay great attention to linking production and product consumption with cooperatives.

However, according to Mr. Nguyen Tien Duc - Head of the provincial Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection, land accumulation and concentrated production still face many difficulties because the majority of farmers still have the mindset of keeping their fields, while the mechanism for exchanging and leasing land is not specific, and is mostly just encouraging and facilitating.

In the long term, it is necessary to have unified direction to have specific planning for each type of crop and livestock, identify specific products for investment in production, build brands, and link consumption in a sustainable manner.

Phu Huong