Green squash harvest and good price, Anh Son farmers are excited

Currently, winter squash in Anh Son district is entering the main harvest season, with a yield of nearly 2 tons/sao. Photo: Thai Hien

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Thang's family in Vinh Huong village, Vinh Son commune is harvesting the first crop of squash. He shared: In the past two years, his family has been experimenting with growingwinter squashIn the garden area next to the house, realizing that squash is highly effective, this year he decided to plant it on the alluvial land with an area of ​​4 sao.

According to Mr. Thang, this is a short-term crop, easy to grow, from planting to harvest is only 90 days and can be harvested from 4 to 5 times. This variety of squash has a dense core, firm flesh, is easy to preserve and suitable for long-distance transportation, so it is very easy to consume.

This is a short-term, easy-to-grow crop, taking only 90 days from planting to harvest. Photo: Thai Hien

Currently, his family's pumpkin garden is yielding the first harvest, with an estimated yield of 1.5 - 2 tons/sao. Currently, traders buy at the garden for 10,000 VND/kg, after deducting expenses, the family's income per sao is 10-12 million VND. From the effectiveness ofzucchiniIn the following seasons, Mr. Thang's family will expand the area and apply the correct methods and technical processes to increase income.

Mr. Vuong Dinh Trinh's family in Hoi Lam village, Cam Son commune has 8 sao of alluvial land. In addition to growing some traditional vegetables such as cucumber, cabbage, squash... the remaining 3 sao of land,winter cropThis year, the family focused on growing squash. Thanks to many years of production experience, from the beginning of the season, his family focused on taking care of the plants, fertilizing them with nitrogen fertilizers to help them grow, and covering the entire area with plastic to limit water evaporation and weeds.

The characteristics of the squash plant are that in addition to being cold-resistant, it also has few pests and diseases. In particular, the plant flowers in concentrated clusters and has a very high fruit set rate. After 3 months of planting and care, it will be harvested. This year, thanks to favorable weather, Mr. Trinh's family had a good squash crop.

After harvest, the squash was purchased by traders at the collection site. Photo: Thai Hien

Mr. Trinh said: This year, due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, the green squash crop is good, the consumption of green squash products is favorable and the current price is stable, so people are also excited.

Mr. Luong Van Thoa - Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Cam Son Commune (Anh Son) said: The locality has identified green squash as a short-term commodity crop with the highest income, because it has many advantages such as short growth time, easy to adapt, easy to grow and high yield, moreover, the technique of growing green squash is not too complicated, people can grow it on a large area. The whole commune has 21 hectares of green squash, grown a lot in Hoi Lam, Ha Du, Tan Lam villages...

To grow squash, farmers often use bamboo stakes, 2 - 2.5cm in diameter, 1.6m apart, A-shaped corners 2m above the ground, connecting the stakes with a mesh size of 20 x 20cm for squash to climb. With this type of trellis, over 40% of trellis stakes can be saved, significantly reducing labor and investment costs.

The consumption of green squash products is both favorable and the current price is stable, so people are very happy. Photo: Thai Hien

Through the first harvests, it is estimated that the winter squash yield this year in Cam Son commune will reach an average of 30-40 tons/ha. The selling price depends on the time, but after deducting expenses, the income of the people will be over 180-200 million VND/ha.

This winter crop, Anh Son district produced 400 hectares of various vegetables, of which over 50 hectares were used for squash and pumpkin, grown in large areas in Cam Son, Thach Son, Duc Son, and Tao Son communes. Many localities have converted to growing squash on rice fields and alluvial land.

From the effectiveness of green squash, in order for green squash fields to develop in a sustainable direction, Anh Son district has actively promoted and mobilized people to convert ineffective areas to grow green squash; coordinated with the district's professional departments to organize training courses to improve farmers' knowledge on how to plant, care for, prevent diseases and produce squash in a food safety and hygiene direction to bring high productivity, quality and economic efficiency.

Besides, proactively call for and attract businesses and stores selling agricultural products in the area to purchase products for farmers./.

Traders come to buy green squash. Photo: Thai Hien

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