Bringing wild pennywort to grow in home gardens, Nghe An farmers earn hundreds of millions
(Baonghean) - Ms. Hoang Thi Lan's family in Hamlet 9, Quynh Van Commune is considered the first household to grow wild pennywort on a large scale in Quynh Luu District. Thanks to good care, her family earns hundreds of millions of dong in profit each year.
From the thought of having to grow vegetable varieties that are not yet available locally, to improve efficiency and production value per unit area, Ms. Lancame up with the idea of digging up wild pennywort roots growing in the fields to plant in the home garden.
At first, she only planted pennywort in one bed of land, then actively cared for it to gradually propagate. Realizing that this vegetable grows quickly, has a short growing period, and has high economic value, she boldly replaced all 3 sao of land specializing in growing mustard greens, coriander, tomatoes... with pennywort.
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| Currently, Ms. Lan grows 3 sao of pennywort, each sao yields 5-6 quintals/harvest. Photo: Hong Dien |
According to Ms. Lan: The family has been involved in growing pennywort for 4 years. Pennywort is a plant with strong vitality so it is very easy to grow, especially in February and March when the weather is favorable, the vegetables are always green and lush. In particular, you only need to plant it once and the plant will be harvested for many years in a row, so you don't have to spend time plowing the soil. Pennywort is grown in rows to make it easy to weed and care for according to technical procedures; the most important part of the cultivation process is to monitor the weather, to grasp when the weather turns humid or there is a south wind, in order to have measures to fertilize and water appropriately.
Every year, she also spends 30 - 40 million VND to buy cow manure from the TH dairy farm in Nghia Dan district to compost and fertilize plants, increasing nutrients to help vegetables grow quickly. This vegetable is usually very disease-free so no pesticides are needed, creating a safe product for users. After 60 days of planting, pennywort begins to yield, with a yield of 5 - 6 quintals/sao.
Every year, 1 sao of vegetables gives her up to 6 harvests, after deducting expenses, the family earns 33 million VND in profit. Thus, with a total area of 1,500 m2, her family earned nearly 100 million VND. Gotu kola has many benefits for human health, so it is very popular with consumers. Therefore, her products are sold as soon as they are made, without having to suffer the situation of good harvest but low prices like when growing other vegetables like before.
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| Currently, in addition to Ms. Lan's vegetable garden, some households in Quynh Van commune have also boldly converted some areas of ineffective vegetable and fruit growing to grow pennywort. Photo: Hong Dien |
Gotu kola grows wild in the hot, dry months, the seeds are difficult to germinate so they are scarce. Nowadays, people have grown gotu kola themselves, combined with investing in sprinkler irrigation systems, the vegetable is harvested continuously all year round so the supply is relatively abundant. There are times when the vegetable is expensive, the purchase price at the field is from 25-30 thousand VND/kg.
Currently, in addition to Ms. Lan's family's pennywort growing model, some households in Quynh Van commune have also boldly converted some ineffective vegetable and fruit growing areas to grow this type of vegetable./.