Tan Ky: The effectiveness of off-season squash

(Baonghean) - On this occasion, farmers in some localities of Tan Ky district are entering the off-season harvest of green squash. Squash is intercropped in rubber gardens, bringing high economic efficiency...

Coming to Tan Phu commune, the green squash trellises are intercropped in rubber gardens from 1 to 3 years old, the fruits hang densely, waiting for traders to come and buy. At the rubber garden of Mr. Nguyen Quoc Manh's family, Tan Yen hamlet, at this time, he and his wife are cleaning up the plastic pipe irrigation system for the squash garden. Standing in front of the green squash garden preparing for harvest, Mr. Manh excitedly said: I invested in this Tien Phong plastic pipe irrigation system once, it can be used for several years. Because, after each crop harvest, I take the trouble to collect it and store it, waiting for the next crop to use. If I just leave it in the garden, during the process of taking care of the rubber trees, or intercropping with other crops, it will damage the pipes, wasting investment costs.

Mr. Manh's family's rubber garden has an area of ​​8 sao, planted 3 years ago. Every year, with the motto "take short-term to support long-term", the couple intercrops 2 crops a year, with the following crops: watermelon, squash, chili or corn. This season, the couple built a trellis to grow off-season squash. After 4 months of care, in early September, the squash was ready to be harvested. It is estimated that this season the family harvested about 10 tons of fruit, the current import price for local traders is 4 - 5 thousand VND/kg. After deducting all costs of investing in seeds, fertilizers, materials... about 15 million VND, the profit is over 30 million VND.

Mr. Manh added: Growing squash requires care, careful investment in trellis, suitable fertilizer, and regular watering, so you have to invest in a reliable irrigation system to ensure a lot of fruit. When growing rubber, it takes 6 years to tap latex, so you need to know how to intercrop short-term crops to have the conditions to invest in rubber and make a living. Intercropping vegetables in rubber gardens not only increases income, but also creates conditions for rubber trees to grow quickly, because in the process of caring for intercropped plants, rubber trees benefit. Next year, this rubber garden will be 4 years old, but it can still be intercropped.

Visit the off-season squash garden intercropped in the rubber garden of Mr. Nguyen Quoc Manh's family.

According to information from Song Con Agricultural Company Limited, this season the company intercropped squash on over 20 hectares in rubber gardens from 1 to 4 years old, mainly in Tan Phu commune. The average squash yield reached 2 tons/sao. Farmers here have many years of intercropping crops in rubber gardens, so they have experience in care. Previously, they often planted watermelon, but due to the unstable market for watermelon, few households maintained it. Last season, the company cooperated with Korean enterprises to plant chili, many households planted 30 hectares of chili, bringing high income. After harvesting chili, people planted off-season green squash.

In early October, some households harvested squash, traders drove cars to buy at the garden. This is the time of the changing season, green vegetables on the market are not abundant, so green squash is consumed strongly. However, compared to last year's squash crop, this crop's selling price has decreased, but squash growers still have a fairly high income. 1 hectare of squash intercropped in the off-season harvested 20 tons of fruit, sold for nearly 100 million VND, after deducting expenses, there is still a profit of over 60 million VND. Currently, the whole company still has 430 hectares of newly planted rubber, which can be intercropped with short-term crops, so the unit regularly propagates and guides people to intercrop vegetables, in order to increase income, have conditions to take care of rubber gardens...

Article and photos:Xuan Hoang