Linking production with consumption of commercial vegetables

(Baonghean) - Quynh Luu is the district with the largest vegetable growing area in the province. Since 1965, farmers in coastal communes such as Quynh Minh, Quynh Luong, Quynh Bang, and Quynh Lien have known how to grow winter vegetables to supply the market. Quickly forming vegetable collection teams for consumption throughout the domestic market, vegetable growers can rest assured about the output.

DAlong the coastal communes of Quynh Minh, Quynh Luong, Quynh Bang, regardless of the day, whether it is raining or windy, cold or hot, vegetable purchasing teams still operate regularly. From about 4 pm to dusk, all the alleys in the commune are bustling with motorbikes carrying vegetables to the purchasing teams, by 8 pm, vegetables are carefully loaded onto trucks, each truck carries an average of 7 - 8 tons of vegetables. At 11 - 12 pm, dozens of trucks start rolling on long journeys, some trucks transport vegetables to Thanh Hoa, Ninh Binh, Hanoi, some trucks go to Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Hue, Da Nang... to deliver goods.

In the heavy rain of a cold winter day, it was already dark by 5 pm. At the vegetable collection team of Mr. Ho Viet Hai's family (Hamlet 3, Quynh Luong Commune), vegetable trucks were continuously brought in, and in no time the large yard was filled. Mr. Hai said: "At this time, we collect 4-5 tons of vegetables each day. During the Tet holiday, on average, the whole team collects 25-30 tons each day. Every day at 11 pm, we transport vegetables to wholesale suppliers in Thanh Chuong and Do Luong districts... After nearly 20 years of working as a vegetable collector, my family not only buys vegetables in our commune but also buys from neighboring communes to have enough goods to sell every day. Having worked in the profession for many years, closely attached to the households, and familiar with the taste of eating out, now people take the initiative to bring vegetables to import every day, so the collection work is quite convenient, and the prices are negotiated according to the market."

Mr. Ho Viet Hai loaded vegetables onto the truck to prepare for sale.

Not only Mr. Hai's family, in Quynh Luong there are dozens of groups specializing in collecting vegetables to create stable output for producers. In this locality, farmers do not have to worry about output, but they calculate how to have a high land use coefficient, rotating production land many times a year. Throughout this coastal area, land never rests, people value land more than gold, because the fields have given them a comfortable life, their children have advanced education... While in many other localities in the province, more and more farmers are abandoning their fields, the area of ​​​​cultivated land is increasing, in the vegetable-specialized communes of Quynh Luu district, people are eager to have more land to expand the production of commercial vegetables, but there is no more area, forcing them to calculate to increase the production crop in the year. Like many vegetable-growing households in the commune, Mrs. Ngo Thi Kim's family in Quynh Luong grows 5 sao of vegetables, rotating production 4 times a year. Ms. Kim confided: “My family has specialized in growing vegetables for decades, and has never had any unsold products. It is just that the prices are high or low, but all the vegetables are bought by traders. With 5 sao of vegetables of various types including: mustard greens, kohlrabi, cabbage, onions, watermelon, carrots... each year we harvest about 250 tons, after deducting expenses, we still have a net profit of 70 million VND/year.”

In addition to the collection teams, in Quynh Luong there is also Phu Luong Cooperative, which not only transfers science and technology in vegetable production to the people but also consumes the products. Mr. Ho Lam Thong - Chairman of the Cooperative said: The Cooperative was established in July 2010, and every year it has signed contracts with Metro Supermarkets in Hanoi, Hai Phong and Big C Supermarkets in Vinh, Hanoi, and Ho Chi Minh City to purchase vegetables for the people. Each year, it supplies supermarkets with over 60 tons of various vegetables and over 100 tons of watermelon. Compared to the price of private traders, selling to supermarkets is more expensive, but the number of supermarkets buying is not much and the quality of vegetables is strictly checked, so people mainly sell to private traders collecting in the commune. The best thing is that when the Cooperative was established, it brought watermelon products of local people to Metro Supermarket, creating a balance in local purchasing prices, ensuring higher income for people. In addition to selling to supermarkets, the cooperative also collects vegetables to sell to other provincial markets, about 200 tons/year.

Quynh Luong commune has 180 hectares of year-round vegetable cultivation, increasing the total annual vegetable rotation area to over 500 hectares, with a total vegetable harvest of about 17,000 tons/year. The people here are dynamic in production and consumption of products. Since 2003, Quynh Luong has had a website introducing safe vegetable products of their hometown online, which has attracted the attention of many customers from other provinces. At the same time, vegetable businesses have increased their connections with customers, thereby expanding the consumption market. On average, Quynh Luong commune alone has about 70 tons of vegetables of all kinds exported to provinces and cities from Hanoi to Da Nang every day. The commune has over 10 trading groups specializing in collecting vegetables for people, with more than 30 trucks transporting goods for consumption. In addition, dozens of small traders transport vegetables by motorbike for consumption in districts in the province.

Mr. Ho Canh Sau - Chairman of Quynh Luong Commune People's Committee shared: "Quynh Luong has a long tradition of vegetable production, for a long time now the consumption has been quite stable thanks to the collection team bringing vegetables to many domestic markets, promoting the vegetable growing profession to develop more and more and bring good income to producers as well as traders. However, the output for vegetables still depends on the market, prices go up and down unstable, so producers are still not assured. However, on this land, vegetables still bring the highest value, thus attracting 90% of households in the commune to participate in regular vegetable growing, with an income value of 250 million VND/ha/year. Here, vegetables are grown by people in rotation 4 times a year, with about 20 types of vegetables: mustard greens, kohlrabi, carrots, cabbage, tomatoes, onions, ...

Besides Quynh Luong, Quynh Minh commune also has a tradition of growing vegetables since 1966. Up to now, the total area of ​​​​rotational cultivation of various types of vegetables in the year has reached 400 hectares. Local people know how to combine traditional production experience and apply scientific and technical advances in cultivation, so they achieve a yield of 22 tons/ha. Every year, Quynh Minh has over 9,000 tons of various types of vegetables supplied to the market through collection teams in the commune. Every day, 8 trucks transport vegetables to the provinces for consumption. However, there are times when the market is unstable, purchasing power is low, prices fall, and it is not enough to cover production costs. At these times, people sell off their crops to free up the fields to plant new crops.

The entire district of Quynh Luu has a total area of ​​​​over 3,200 hectares of annual vegetable and bean rotation, with a total output of 51,566 tons/year. Realizing the high value of vegetable cultivation, in recent years, communes in the above areas such as Quynh Van, Quynh Lam, Tan Son ... have also actively expanded the area of ​​​​vegetable cultivation associated with promoting consumption in domestic and foreign markets. Thanks to that, it has brought high income value per unit area, and farmers' lives have been increasingly improved thanks to commercial vegetable cultivation. However, although there are traders who regularly collect vegetables, people still want to have factories to process and preserve vegetable products, such as building factories to process chili sauce, tomatoes ... to stably consume products for people, gradually bringing local vegetable products to foreign markets to increase income even higher for vegetable growers.

Quynh Lan