Returning to Thanh Lien commune, on the barren land, now there are fruit gardens: grapefruit, guava, Thai jackfruit; hundreds of pig farms, thousands of chicken farms... we met Mr. Phan Ba Hau (Lien Duc hamlet) who is taking care of the green-skin grapefruit garden, Dien grapefruit to serve the upcoming Tet market. He excitedly shared: "The soil here is very suitable for fruit trees, grapefruit and guava are both very sweet. More than 1 hectare of fruit trees of the family, mainly traders and fruit agents come to buy directly from the garden, earning about 250 million VND/year, combined with specialized fish farming of more than half a hectare for additional income".
On the same strip of land as Mr. Hau's garden, Mr. Pham Van Dan's economic model has a scale of more than 100 pigs/litter, nearly 50 sows, fish farming and grapefruit growing on more than 1 hectare, earning 500 - 600 million VND per year...
To have this change in thinking, we have to go through many struggles and difficulties. For example, the 41 hectares of fruit trees that are currently barren land, with only weeds and miscellaneous trees; after several policies for factories to contract sugarcane and cassava planting, and for people to contract production were not implemented, the local "leading" cadres stood up to take over the land to do it, both to avoid wasting land funds and to help people change their agricultural economic thinking through models. Then in each policy and conversion model, each cadre took on a pioneering role, such as the concentrated livestock farming model, converting to commercial vegetables, growing lotus, etc.
In Thanh Lien commune, there are now nearly 40 farms and ranches, each model earns an average of about 200 million VND, large models earn 500 - 600 million VND/year. Low-lying areas, which used to grow only one rice crop or were left fallow, have been put into specialized fish farming, closed production from raising parent fish, juvenile fish and commercial fish with a total of 48 hectares and 12 hectares of lotus. Many rice growing areas have been converted to rotation, increasing crops: spring rice; summer-autumn squash, melon, watermelon; corn, winter vegetables, contributing to increasing value from 200 - 250 million VND/ha/year.
Going to Thanh Duc border commune - where the tea area is the largest in Thanh Chuong district with more than 1,100 hectares and the orange area has been expanded to more than 150 hectares; the people's thinking about agricultural economy has changed through promoting the application of science and technology, practicing agricultural production according to VietGAP standards, organic agriculture, meeting the increasing demand for clean products of the market.
Comrade Nguyen Huu Vinh - Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Committee of Thanh Duc commune shared: Also tea trees, previously harvested by hand, without an irrigation system, leading to some tea areas being burned to death in the hot season; now, intensive investment is good and harvesting is done entirely by cutting machines. In particular, tea products, from being only raw materials, now have dozens of hectares of cultivation according to VietGAP standards, implementing the processing process, creating Thanh Chuong Green Tea brand products that meet 4-star OCOP standards. According to Mr. Dang Duy Lam - Director of Thanh Duc Agricultural and Tea Processing Cooperative, the value and economic efficiency have increased by more than 20% compared to other tea areas; at the same time, it has become a branded product of the homeland, present in the markets of Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Dong Nai, Da Nang, Nha Trang, etc.
Orange trees in Thanh Duc commune, from small-scale, traditional production and through many farming methods, have now shifted to sustainable organic production, without the use of pesticides, ensuring safety for producers and consumers, contributing to protecting the common environment. Mr. Tran Dien Vi, an organic orange farmer, said that Thanh Duc organic oranges in general and family farm oranges in particular have reached many provinces and cities across the country, into supermarkets, including the Bac Tom store system in Hanoi. The economic value has increased by 1.5 - 2 times, as at present, the price of organic oranges sold in the garden is 45 - 50 thousand VND/kg (non-organic oranges cost 25 - 30 thousand VND/kg).
Downstream of Thanh Lam commune, the area at the end of the water source, agricultural production conditions are extremely difficult, growing rice crops for the whole year, now there are also effective agricultural economic models, such as raising high-tech ducks with a scale of more than 6,000 ducks/batch; raising dam, field loach, black apple snails, growing ornamental chrysanthemums...
Comrade Trinh Van Nha - Deputy Secretary of the District Party Committee, Chairman of the District People's Committee shared: In the past time, in addition to productivity and output, the Party Committee and the district government have directed the value thinking in agricultural production based on market demand and on the basis of local advantages, not producing what they have like before. To realize that thinking, Thanh Chuong has directed twice the implementation of land consolidation and plot exchange, linking support for the construction of transport infrastructure, irrigation, and electricity production; Directing the construction of new rural standard gardens, farmer model gardens; Promoting clean production according to VietGAP and organic standards, associated with building product brands with logos, labels, and traceability; Building and developing products that meet OCOP standards.
The Chairman of Thanh Chuong District People's Committee cited examples such as black canarium fruit, from a native crop, the selling price was only a few tens of thousands of VND/kg, after the coordination of "4 houses" to create canned salted canarium and dried canarium products that met OCOP standards, fresh canarium in the garden could be sold for around 100,000 VND/kg. Or tea, grapefruit, orange trees were converted to VietGAP, organic products with high economic value. Organic squash was expanded to many communes of Thanh Linh, Thanh Lien, Thanh Hoa, Xuan Tuong, Dai Dong, Thanh Khai, Thanh Chi... and the consumption market was expanded to many localities: Hanoi, Hai Phong, Hai Duong, Quang Ninh... Some products such as melons, cucumbers, tomatoes, vegetables in greenhouses, net houses with a total of 6 greenhouses, net houses in Thanh Khe, Thanh Lien, Thanh Tien, Thanh Linh, Thanh Duong, Vo Liet communes.
Currently, Thanh Chuong is continuing to direct 2 projects to transform crop structure, associated with processing, product consumption, increasing value per unit of cultivated area and the project to develop farm and family economy, linking product value chains according to the biosafety model. At the same time, perfecting to issue the project to develop organic agriculture, strengthening close links between "4 houses" to select advantageous crops and livestock, creating high value. Developing organic agriculture associated with agricultural tourism, experiential tourism so that agriculture is truly the "support" of the economy.
