Smart Agriculture: Efficiency and Challenges

(Baonghean) - Natural disasters are becoming more and more complicated, resources are increasingly depleted, negatively affecting productivity and quality of agricultural production. To avoid natural disasters and protect the land, farmers and scientists have come up with many solutions for effective production. That is smart agriculture - one of the major policies of the state in combating climate change...

From creative ideas in farming

Previously, people in Tan Hai hamlet, Quynh Bang, Quynh Luu - a hamlet with a monoculture of vegetables - were always busy, even in the scorching midday sun, they still had to stand and water their vegetables. They watered 5 times a day, each time for 1.5 hours, otherwise the vegetable leaves would burn and curl. To overcome the manual watering method, Mr. Ho Dang Nang in Tan Hai hamlet invested in a semi-automatic misting system for the entire garden. On sunny days, he just needed to sit inside and plug in the power, and the whole vegetable garden would be like a park, the water faucets competing to emit enough water to cool the vegetables. Therefore, only 3 sao of vegetables in the garden but brought in an income of 60 million VND/year. The underground water source in Tan Hai is not abundant, the whole village watered, so in previous years it often ran out. But now, every household has installed an automatic misting system, which not only provides enough water for vegetable leaves, reduces pesticide residues on vegetables, keeps the soil moist, and saves water.

The whole Tan Hai hamlet has more than 50 households out of 106 households with automatic irrigation gardens. Many people can make this automatic irrigation system, especially farmers in Quynh Lien. Currently, some small mechanical facilities in the commune have produced it at a low cost. Investing 10 million VND, you can have a multi-beneficial misting irrigation system, the material is plastic pipes connected together, with locks at the locations, main pipes, branch pipes and valves. Thanks to this automatic irrigation system, vegetable growers in Quynh Bang and Quynh Lien have changed their lives. It is truly a smart agricultural production method from the farmers' own ideas.

In recent years, people in Nghi Kim, Vinh City have been diligently growing clean vegetables to both sell and serve their own family meals. Most of Nghi Kim Hamlet 10 produces vegetables - a job that requires hard work, staying up late and waking up early. They raise buffaloes and cows, using manure as organic fertilizer for vegetables to reduce chemical fertilizers. Ms. Cao Thi Khoa's family, Hamlet 10, has 620m2 of land to grow vegetables, which is the family's main source of income. Now is the main vegetable growing season of the year, she and the whole village go to the fields to grow vegetables. Early-season vegetables after floods are often expensive, so they have to be done quickly to make a profit.

Ms. Khoa said: “The soil in the garden is higher than in the field, so right after the rain of storm No. 11 stopped, we planted the seeds, about ten days later the soil in the field was ready to be planted, the whole family went to the field to prepare the soil and focus on planting vegetables. This season there are no worms, so we only use organic fertilizer before planting, and use biological organic fertilizer to treat the soil. Thanks to that, the vegetables are safe and the cost is low.” Besides Ms. Khoa, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh is also rushing to prepare the soil in time to plant the new crop of vegetables. Ms. Thanh revealed: Imported vegetables in Vinh are currently priced at 4,000 VND/bunch, at that price, one sao of vegetables per crop will bring in an income of 10 million VND, but we have to do it quickly.

Ms. Thanh also said: In spring and summer, there are many flea beetles and caterpillars, so she grows vegetables in a greenhouse, but now she grows them in the field so that the plants can take advantage of the weather. Last summer, her family had 200 square meters of greenhouse vegetables growing chrysanthemums, Malabar spinach, and coriander very effectively. The cost of building a greenhouse was 7 million VND, and the city supported a part of it. In the summer, she grows vegetables in a greenhouse, in storms and rain, in the winter, she removes the net and grows them outdoors. She has taken advantage of both techniques and natural disaster avoidance to achieve high efficiency. Last summer, Mr. Le Van Tam's family, also in Hamlet 10, grew tomatoes in a greenhouse very effectively, and now he is growing Chinese cabbage and bitter cabbage outdoors. Carefully observing the way people do things, we can see that there are indeed clean vegetables here, and people are building a clean vegetable brand for Nghi Kim.

Irrigation system for vegetables in Quynh Bang - Quynh Luu.

To clean livestock to protect the environment

Visiting the family of Ms. Ngo Thi Trang, Hoa Binh hamlet, Giang Son Dong commune, Do Luong - a household raising about 30 pigs and a herd of piglets, surprisingly, her pigsty is right next to her house but has no smell. In the clean sty, the pigs drink water from automatic water taps mounted on the wall. They just need to put their mouths in the clean water to drink. On the roof of the sty is a system of automatic water pipes that both provide drinking water for the pigs and for cleaning.

Ms. Trang said that more than 10 years ago, she studied at a college of animal husbandry, but after graduating she could not find a job, so she returned home, got married and opened a pig farm. She raised three litters of pigs a year, then piglets, sows, and also opened a feed agency to supply to farmers in the area. She took care of and vaccinated the pigs with one hand. With the technique and diligence, her pigs grew quickly, and the price was often higher than the price of concentrated farming. She affirmed that the output market was always open, so she could always sell, each time selling the whole litter. Since 2009, she has invested 100 million VND in a biogas tank. Currently, wastewater and feces are all led to the biogas tank and provide her with enough gas to cook 3 stoves. Now, she is also supported by the Lipsap Project of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Nghe An with additional techniques, scientific barn layout, especially "bookkeeping" farming methods: Recording the development of pigs every week to have appropriate care and disease management methods.

In Nam Xuan-Nam Dan, an area supported by the Lipsap Project, there are many concentrated and small-scale livestock farms of families. Mr. Nguyen Quang Dai's farm was invested with 15 billion VND on an area of ​​5 hectares, with a scale of 200 foreign sows and hundreds of pigs surrounded by large lakes. Mr. Dai said: To protect the environment, first, it must be far from people, second, it must be surrounded by lakes and third, it is necessary to build a biogas tank. The amount of gas produced here is enough to cook for dozens of workers, even if it has to be given away. As for the wastewater, he uses it for workers to grow spinach, tea, and green chili. The scientific investment method to protect the farm from disease, while at the same time directing livestock farming in a sustainable and environmentally friendly direction is being implemented by Mr. Dai, becoming a model for many visiting delegations to learn.

And the role of business?

Smart agriculture is an agriculture that adapts to weather and climate change that the United Nations has called on developing countries to move towards, including best practices and technologies for smart climate-adaptive agriculture and food security; emphasizing the importance of businesses, technology investment, information through public-private relations to widely apply this field.

Currently, in the province, there have appeared models and smart ways to "live with climate change", but without the participation of "4 houses", the efficiency will not be high. For example, in Dien Van - Dien Chau, there is a model of raising crabs and sea bass with high efficiency. At the beginning of the year, crabs are raised, when the crabs are big and harvested, sea bass is raised. Starting from September and October, the crab spawning season, people go to exploit the breed to raise, then in May of the solar calendar, they harvest the crabs for sale. From April, they have raised sea bass, the leftover food of the sea bass will be used for crabs.

After harvesting all the crabs, the sea bass is released. After harvesting the sea bass, the crabs are used to clean the environment. This method has been supported by the provincial Department of Aquaculture, providing technical training and is effective in productivity and sustainability because the fish and crabs do not have diseases like shrimp farming in the past. Thus, farmers, the government and scientists have joined in. However, there are no businesses to purchase the products for the people, so sea bass when there is a large output is very difficult to sell. Similarly, the intensive shrimp farming and disease monitoring models in the shrimp areas of Quynh Luu, Dien Chau, Hung Hoa, although scientists, farmers and the government have made efforts to have high acreage, output and productivity, the purchasing and processing businesses are not commensurate. Shrimp farmers have to sell shrimp mainly to other provinces.

Smart agriculture must first of all have a certain amount of intelligence in research and application of models, in which high-tech agriculture is an effective solution. Currently, May Forestry Joint Stock Company is implementing a project to grow vegetables and flowers for export in greenhouses in Nghia Dan, and has deployed 4 hectares of high-value crops that are vulnerable to outdoor conditions such as sweet peppers, cherry tomatoes, cantaloupes, cumato tomatoes, flowers... or a project to grow and process bananas using tissue culture technology in Vien Thanh - Yen Thanh commune of Korea, or a large-scale concentrated cattle breeding project of TH in Nghia Dan...

Therefore, to produce smart agriculture, the task is very heavy, farmers alone cannot do it. The role of science and business is very important, while the conditions in Nghe An are still limited, so smart agriculture is still a big challenge.

Chau Lan