Ky Son grows ginger for high income

(Baonghean) -In recent years, the mountainous district of Ky Son has focused on developing new crops in the direction of agricultural and forestry products such as: snow tea, pi nien, raising red ants, elephant grass for cattle, cajuput, lilies and planting forests for raw materials such as acacia, cajuput, xoan, rattan, bamboo... bringing many improvements to the economy of each household.

Now going to Ky Son, to the two communes of Nam Can and Na Ngoi in the highland border area, we share the joy with the villagers before the bumper ginger harvest. For the past two years, ginger has become a crop to reduce poverty for the villagers. Together with the villagers, we did the calculation: 1 hectare of upland rice yields 1 ton of paddy, priced at 7,000 VND/kg, but if ginger is grown, it yields 3 tons of tubers/hectare with a price of 20,000 VND/kg sold in the village, which shows a huge difference.

With the attention of all levels, currently Nam Can commune has 6 Mong villages that have expanded the ginger growing area from 64 hectares (in 2010) to 150 hectares (in 2011). Na Ngoi commune has 19 villages, the households are excited about ginger. Last year the whole commune had 255 hectares, this year the area increased by 80 hectares.

We visited households with good economic performance, which had one thing in common: Gradually reducing the area of ​​upland rice, switching to growing commercial crops, growing rice, planting raw forests and raising livestock.

Mr. Tho Nhenh Thong's family (Tham Hin village - Nam Can) in addition to raising cattle, pigs, porcupines, and 1 hectare of tea, abandoned upland rice to grow 2 hectares of ginger. Mr. Tho Pa Denh's family also abandoned upland rice, intensively cultivated 1 hectare of rice, a herd of 10 cattle, pigs, chickens, and a fish pond. The 2 hectares of ginger alone earn 100 million VND/year.

In Na Ngoi, the commune is known as the rice granary of the district, with nearly 400 hectares, nearly half of the rice field area in Ky Son. In addition to tea trees, ginger trees have flourished. The families of Vu No Denh (Kha 1 village), Lau Chong Lau (Tong Khu village), both have 2 hectares of ginger...

When these two highland communes had roads to the center, it made it easier for people to buy products. From the intensive ginger cultivation model, in recent years the sloping fields in Na Ngoi and Nam Can have decreased a lot.

Vo Van Vinh