Close association in farming in Tan Ky

(Baonghean) - With incentive mechanisms and bold investment from the people, Tan Ky district now has 77 farms that meet the new criteria. These farms create regular jobs for 343 workers. Notably, many farms have been effective, bringing in billions of dong in income for the people.

Investing in high-tech livestock farming

In Tan Ky district, there are currently 9 livestock farms, including 5 high-tech pig farms, which have established joint ventures with companies and businesses inside and outside the area, creating favorable conditions for accessing loan sources. Ms. Tran Thi Nga, in Tan Yen hamlet, Tan Phu commune, is one of the typical examples of high-tech lean pig farming in Tan Ky district.

Ms. Nga shared: Currently, the farm has over 1,000 pigs, of which 300 weigh over 100 kg/pig, waiting to be sold. At this time, the price of pigs is at 35,000 - 40,000 VND/kg. Preparing to raise the next batch, the family has ordered 900 breeding pigs, each priced at 1 million VND (7 kg/pig). According to Ms. Nga, pig farming on the farm needs to invest in high-tech barns so that the pigs grow faster, reducing labor and other costs.

Free-range chicken farming in Tan Ky. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Many families take advantage of investing in raising broiler chickens in the direction of farms. The model of applying new technology in raising chickens of Mr. Pham Cong Ly's family, Tan Dong hamlet, Dong Van commune is considered the largest scale in Tan Ky district at present. The farm scale is from 2,000 - 3,000 chickens/batch, applying science from the stage of selecting breeds to care, so his family's chickens always grow quickly and evenly.

From the initial effectiveness of Mr. Ly's family's chicken farming model, Tan Ky farmers have now built 10 large-scale chicken farms with 1,000 - 3,000 chickens per batch, concentrated in Tan Hop, Giai Xuan, Nghia Phuc, Dong Van, Tan An communes.... Each year, they bring in a revenue of more than 500 million VND.

Linking livestock farming to create large products

In the competitive market economy period, it is necessary to have large-volume, high-quality products, on-time delivery, and competitive prices. If carried out individually, each farmer cannot do this. Therefore, farmers must join together to unify the common production process for each product. Typically, in Tan Ky district, many cooperative households have boldly raised dairy cows in the form of association, bringing a stable source of income.

Mr. Nguyen Hung Son - Director of Nghia Hop Commune Dairy Cooperative, said: If there is no connection between dairy farming households, this profession cannot develop. That is, how to ensure daily milk products of high quality, high import output to reduce transportation costs and be accepted by Vinamilk. In more than 3 years since the Cooperative was established, the connection here has been clearly shown. That is the connection to support food sources, care techniques, veterinary disease prevention, and milk harvesting.

Filtering cow's milk. Photo: Chau Lan

There are households that have just invested in raising dairy cows, but do not have land to grow grass, so other households that raise cows support them by lending them land to grow grass. Even during the grass growing process, if any grass is found to be not green and healthy, the homeowner is reminded to take responsibility for taking care of the grass so that it grows well and ensures nutrition for the cows. Otherwise, the milk quality will not be guaranteed, losing the reputation of the company that imports milk from them. During the process of caring for the cows, the previous household is responsible for supporting the following household with farming techniques, including veterinary medicine and disease prevention. The goal is to improve the quality of milk products and ensure reputation.

Therefore, Nghia Hop Commune Dairy Cooperative now has 9 households raising more than 200 dairy cows, supplying Vinamilk Dairy Company with more than 1 ton of fresh milk every day, ensuring quality. Mr. Son's household alone has invested nearly 2 billion VND in the herd and facilities. According to Mr. Son, in order to improve the connection in dairy farming, the commune government needs to intervene and create conditions for members to bid for land to grow grass, because in dairy farming, the source of food is very important. If the source of food is not proactive, the cost of buying food every day will be very high.

Linking to raise dairy cows, a new direction of Nghia Hop - Tan Ky Dairy Cow Raising Cooperative. Photo: Xuan Hoang

According to Mr. Nguyen Nhu Ky - Deputy Head of the District Agriculture Department, linking up to raise dairy cows is the right investment for people in recent years. The close coordination between farmers and dairy companies in recent years has created conditions for dairy farming in the district to develop more and more. Currently, there are over 12 households investing in raising dairy cows, of which 2 households have been recognized as farms. This linking model will be studied and lessons learned to be replicated for other products in rural areas to increase people's income.

Solving existing problems for sustainable development

It can be said that the farm economy of Tan Ky district is developing rapidly in quantity and quality. Of the 77 farms, there are 65 mixed farms; 9 livestock farms; 3 aquaculture farms. The total area of ​​the farms is 1,395.64 hectares; the average area is 18.6 hectares/farm. It is worth mentioning that the number of farms in Tan Ky is increasing, up to now the District People's Committee has recognized 471 farms, with the total income of the farms up to 2016 reaching over 218 billion VND (on average, each farm has an income of 300 million VND/year). That is the basis for Tan Ky district to develop more farms in the coming years.

Although the farms and ranches of Tan Ky district have developed strongly, there are still some problems that need to be overcome: environmental pollution at farms and ranches, and most of them are mixed farms, small-scale commodity production, not specialized, so the products are difficult to sell, and the economic value is not high. Up to this point, only 2 pig farms have built wastewater treatment systems using tarpaulin-covered biogas tanks; among 13 dairy farms and ranches, only 1 farm of Mr. Nguyen Thu Ngoan (Nghia Dong commune) has been moved to the fields, the rest are intercropped in residential areas.

To solve these problems, for pig farms, capital is needed to invest in environmental treatment systems. For dairy farms, localities need to supplement the planning of concentrated livestock areas far from residential areas. In the past, although the District People's Committee has directed localities to plan land, move barns to the fields, in the direction of developing clean agricultural economy, but up to now, due to many reasons, few localities have been able to implement as desired.

Tan Ky's goal is that by 2020, the proportion of crossbred Sind cows will reach 80% of the total herd; the total dairy cow herd will increase to 2,000; and the goat herd will increase by an average of 18% per year. At the same time, encourage the development of livestock farming in the direction of farms and households, striving from now until 2020, the whole district will build 11 more goat farms, 12 foreign sow farms; 20 pig farms with a scale of over 500 pigs and 5 chicken farms.

Xuan Hoang