Nghe An farmers earn 90 million VND/ha from red sweet potatoes
(Baonghean.vn) - With its soft, sweet, and nutritious tubers, Tan Ky sweet potatoes (Nghe An) sell for a good price, becoming a major source of income for many farming households.
These days, in the fields in Trot Ngang area in Phuong Ky hamlet, Ky Son commune, people are busy harvesting sweet potatoes on rice fields and land.
This year, Ms. Le Thi Tam's family planted 2 sao of rice fields. Ms. Tam said: Growing sweet potatoes for tubers requires less labor and material costs than growing corn or rice. They mainly use decomposed manure, without the need to use pesticides. After only nearly 4 months, the yield reached nearly 3 quintals/sao, with the current price of 13,000 - 15,000 VND/kg, giving her family an income of nearly 5 million VND/sao. In particular, sweet potato stems are also sold as feed for livestock and poultry at a fairly high price.
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| Wherever people harvest, traders and local people buy it all. Photo: Bong Mai |
Harvesting potatoes in the adjacent field, Ms. Tran Thi Huong shared: Although this year's potato yield is not as high as last year, the selling price is stable. From the time of planting to harvest, the weather was favorable so the potatoes grew well. Sweet potatoes are drought-resistant and highly profitable. Moreover, sweet potatoes are suitable for the soil and climate here, so they produce many large tubers.
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| Sweet potatoes in Trot land have red skin, white flesh, very soft and sweet. Photo: Bong Mai |
Mr. Nguyen Cong Hung - Vice Chairman of the Commune People's Committee said: Ky Son Commune currently has 5 hectares of sweet potato growing area, each hectare yields 50 tons of tubers, with the current selling price, each hectare earns nearly 90 million VND. This is a short-term crop but brings quite high profits.
In particular, the potato variety here has the characteristics of red skin, white flesh, very soft and sweet. Therefore, in the coming time, the locality will recommend that people continue to develop the area of sweet potato cultivation, to bring economic benefits to the people.
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| Tan Ky district currently has about 71 hectares of sweet potatoes. Photo: Bong Mai |
Currently, not only Ky Son commune but also farmers in Nghia Phuc, Giai Xuan, Tan Huong communes... are focusing on expanding the area of sweet potato cultivation.
Up to now, the whole district has converted 71 hectares of highland land without water control to grow sweet potatoes to gradually replace ineffective crops and bring high economic efficiency, contributing to the sustainable hunger eradication and poverty reduction in the locality./.