High-tech agriculture: Solution to cope with climate change

(Baonghean) - In recent years, agricultural production in Nghe An has had quite comprehensive and right-oriented development. However, Nghe An's agricultural sector has not yet exploited its existing potential, productivity and quality of crops and livestock are still quite low compared to the national average. In particular, high-tech agriculture applied to the cultivation sector is still confused, almost stopping at the policy and concept.

Currently, the trend of globalization and climate change has been deeply affecting agricultural production. From 2008 to now, in the North Central region, unusual weather phenomena have appeared with higher frequency such as prolonged cold, erratic and changing rainfall, the summer-autumn flood season often comes earlier than the average of many years. Land degradation is increasingly widespread, especially in coastal districts. Along the coast, the area of ​​"sandization" from Cua Lo town to Quynh Luu is up to thousands of hectares, which have been abandoned and uncultivated for many years. In the face of the above challenges, we would like to cite the high-tech agricultural cultivation method that has been successfully implemented on the poor sandy coastal soil of Thach Van commune, Thach Ha district, Ha Tinh.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thuc - Director of MITACO Agricultural Seeds and Materials Company Limited shared: Concerned with the requirements of the agricultural sector, it is necessary to find solutions to improve the degraded sandy soil along the coast, in order to proactively combat climate change and desertification, creating a sustainable organic agricultural production area. Based on the farming techniques of agricultural technical experts in Hong Kong on sandy soil, to apply on the degraded sandy soil along the coast. The farming method can be applied on a large scale and does not necessarily require investing in dozens of hectares of greenhouses. This solution only requires investing in a number of nursery gardens to produce seedlings in the rainy season, and in other seasons, direct planting on sandy soil is considered as a growing medium.

Using sprinkler irrigation technology for vegetables in Quynh Luu. Photo: Tran To

The most important thing is to apply the system of "Fixed and semi-fixed sprinkler irrigation" invested in the entire cultivated area. Based on the characteristics of the variety, determine the appropriate humidity for each type of plant, to apply the most suitable irrigation regime, which is one of the effective intensive farming measures on poor sandy soil. The superiority of the sprinkler irrigation method is to ensure water access to all cultivated land areas; Improve soil permeability, cool the air; Maintain appropriate soil humidity for plants to grow strongly from the beginning; Improve the efficiency of fertilizer use, reduce plant wilting during the harvest and hot season.

In addition to the irrigation system, on sandy soil, it is necessary to calculate the drainage system: Digging drainage ditches is required to ensure that drainage is always active and not flooded during the production process. For low-lying areas, there must be a drainage system (geotechnical pipes and geotextile rolls) to bring the amount of water seeping from daily rain into the drainage ditch, the groundwater level should be kept lower than 70cm. This issue raises a technical solution on how to make beds, for each crop season and planting techniques for each type of plant. The process being applied is to sow seedlings in pots during the rainy season, and in the dry season, sow directly using a hole puller with a positioning tool.

Second, the variety characteristics: Yield potential, quality and adaptability of the variety are the premise to create a large volume of products per unit area. Radish and cabbage varieties have been imported from Korea and China. Liyou Seed and Goodseed 863 varieties can grow in winter, spring and spring-summer, with an average yield of 45-60 tons/ha. Particularly for Turnip Seed, the yield reaches 90 tons/ha, suitable for winter-spring. Hong Kong high-yield tomato variety has an actual yield of over 40 tons/ha.

Third, nutrition regime: Fertilizer must be invested at a high level of intensive farming, ensuring the correct process for each type of crop. For example, the investment level for fertilizer for radish (large root variety) calculated per sao (500m2): Humus is taken from organic waste 1.2-1.5 tons; 45-50 kg NPK 16:16:8; Urea 8-10 kg; Potassium 20-22 kg and Boron 1-1.2 kg. Implement synchronous basal fertilization techniques before making beds and top dressing in furrows.

Fourth, understand the irrigation regime at each stage, for each type of crop to set up an irrigation schedule and flow rate for each irrigation; apply local drought techniques at some stages to control the negative roots to find water, penetrate deeply and extend old roots. If there is no automatic sensor system to measure soil moisture, connected to the water pumping system, then it is necessary to check directly to adjust the irrigation regime.

Fifth, if pests arise and cause harm, only use biological compounds such as Marshal 200 SC and Proclaim 1.9 EC when using pesticides.

In short, the application of sprinkler irrigation technology is being strongly developed in the world; especially in developed industrial countries, sprinkler irrigation technology has been used on over 90% of cultivated land area. For the infertile sandy coastal land of Nghe An in particular and the land with light mechanical composition, poor in nutrients in other localities, applying the advantages of sprinkler irrigation technology, along with the right selection of crops in the direction of commodity production, combined with highly intensive farming methods, in which focusing on the use of organic microbial fertilizers, will create a synchronous scientific farming method, this is the scientific basis for organizing high-tech agricultural production, creating a breakthrough in crop production, bringing high economic efficiency per unit area, proactively responding to climate change and desertification. However, to successfully implement the project, the attention of authorities at all levels in supporting initial investment and the pioneering investment role of enterprises is indispensable to promote, develop and maintain clean, sustainable organic agricultural production.

Master: Hoang Duc An