Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company: Accompanying sugarcane growers in difficult times
(Baonghean) - Recently, the sugar industry has been negatively affected by the domestic and international markets, leading to a drop in sugarcane prices, and many sugarcane enterprises have faced many difficulties in production. In this situation, Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company is committed to continuing to accompany and support sugarcane growers, together overcoming the "extreme hardship".
REDUCED AREA
Coming to Tan Phu commune (Tan Ky district) these days, besides the golden rice fields in harvest season, there are also vast, green sugarcane fields.
Ms. Le Thi Ha, one of the farmers with a large sugarcane area in Tan Phu commune, shared: Recently, the price of sugarcane has decreased, we were quite worried, however, after following the news, we saw that this is a common situation in the whole country, so we calmed down. Currently, we are stepping up sugarcane care to increase productivity, helping the factory to have quality sugarcane products, and also increasing family income.
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| People in Tan Luong hamlet, Tan Phu commune witness sugarcane care machines. Photo: Document |
This year, the entire Tan Phu commune has about 300 hectares of sugarcane, of which 270 hectares are raw sugarcane for Song Con Sugar Factory, of which the newly planted sugarcane area this crop year is 75 hectares.
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| Sugarcane grown by machine in Tan Ky has a survival rate of 95%. Photo: Document |
The raw sugarcane area of Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company is currently 6,500 hectares, of which 1,300 hectares are newly planted. This is a decrease of about 600 hectares compared to last year.
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ADAPTIVE SOLUTIONS
Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company has made a specific plan to cope with the difficult situation of the sugarcane industry, the most important of which is to promote mechanization in land preparation and sugarcane care to improve productivity and increase sugar content. The Company's 29 agricultural officers are regularly present in localities to guide people in sugarcane care, grasp the situation promptly, and at the same time coordinate with local authorities to encourage people to have confidence in sugarcane, maintain the existing area, and not rotate to other crops.
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| Farmers in Giai Xuan commune, Tan Ky district take care of sugarcane. Photo: Tran Chau |
The Company will also commit to policies to accompany and support farmers to overcome the difficult period of the sugar industry. Specifically, for newly planted sugarcane, households using machines managed by the Company, the minimum land preparation loan of 3.6 million VND/ha will be supported with 2.4 million VND/ha, for households that meet the conditions to complete new planting during the period from September 1 to November 30, 2018 will be supported with 4.4 million VND/ha. For sugarcane with retained roots, the Company will support care costs according to each specific condition in the commitment.
In addition to implementing many support policies for sugarcane growers, Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company is actively developing internal roads to facilitate the transportation of sugarcane in remote fields with difficult traffic. Regarding sugarcane varieties, the Company is also applying high-yield sugarcane varieties with stable sugar content and good stubble retention such as VD 93-159, LK 92-11, KK3... which not only help improve the quality of raw materials but also increase income for sugarcane growers. |
| Raw sugarcane is transported to be purchased at Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company. Photo: Document |
Currently, the weather has entered summer, the heat is prolonged, some sugarcane areas are facing drought. Therefore, the company's agricultural staff is guiding people to irrigate sugarcane. Sugarcane is a crop that needs a lot of water but is very intolerant to waterlogging. To avoid waterlogging, sugarcane fields must be flat, a drainage system must be designed immediately after planting, and there must be ditches and drainage ditches around the fields.
Thanks to the Company's efforts, the mentality of sugarcane growers has stabilized. Currently, in the raw sugarcane fields, farmers are actively weeding, fertilizing and expecting a successful sugarcane crop.
In April, Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company purchased all the raw sugarcane area, out of a total area of 6.9 thousand hectares in the districts of Tan Ky, Yen Thanh, Do Luong, Anh Son and Thanh Chuong. The company also finished the pressing season 1 week early. Although in a difficult period, according to the company's assessment, this pressing season's raw sugarcane output reached about 350 thousand tons, equivalent to previous years.