Nghe An’s winter crop production is mainly vegetables, tubers, fruits… concentrated in coastal areas, sandy soil areas and has many high-yield and high-yield crop seasons. However, there are times when some agricultural products fall into a situation of “supply exceeding demand”, requiring “rescue” and resulting in wasted production investment, even losses during “good harvests”.
That reality raises a crucial issue of agricultural product consumption. To find a solution to that problem, after 2 land conversions, some cooperatives in Dien Chau district, Hoang Mai town... have identified the role of "midwife" for farmers, proactively linking production with enterprises to consume products, bringing a stable source of income for farmers...
One day during the potato harvest season in the fields of Dien Phong commune (Dien Chau), we witnessed the bustling atmosphere of production among the farmers. Net bags filled with potatoes were neatly stacked in large piles on both sides of the internal roads. At the end of the day, large trucks rushed to the fields to transport all the potatoes to the factory. In just a few days, the entire dozen-hectare potato field was harvested. The farmers were excited because the agricultural products not only had high yields but were also purchased entirely by businesses. Many families were excited to hold hundreds of millions of dong in their hands.
Mr. Ho Que Son - a farmer in Dong Ho hamlet, Dien Phong commune shared: "Producing on a large, fertile, rich field like this, with the company accompanying, farmers really benefit. After harvesting, all products are purchased right at the field, and people receive money at once. Meanwhile, growing spontaneous vegetables, every day we have to worry about harvesting and selling, the money earned is petty, if the price is good then it's fine, otherwise it's bad and we can escape losses, it's difficult to sell, waiting for calls for "rescue"... is really miserable in a hundred ways! People now realize that, to have sustainable agricultural production, we must have large fields, have dynamic cooperatives that play a good intermediary role in linking with businesses in production and consumption".
Also working hard in the muddy potato field, Director of Dien Phong Agricultural Service Cooperative - Mr. Que Van Duyen said: "The locality has 160 hectares of fertile land, the cooperative annually links production with enterprises on 100 hectares, including potatoes, export peppers, and sweet corn. Of which, 30 hectares of potatoes are linked in the production chain with Orion Group. Accordingly, every year, the enterprise supplies potato seeds, planting and care techniques; the cooperative supplies fertilizer and acts as an intermediary in the consumption stage. On harvest day, 100% of potatoes are purchased by the enterprise at the contracted price from the beginning of the season. For example, this year, the enterprise purchased potatoes at 8,000 VND/kg. Calculations show that 1 hectare of potatoes yields about 24 tons of tubers, earning nearly 200 million VND/crop, after deducting all expenses, people still have a net profit of about 100 million VND. The land has been converted into plots large, so the land preparation stage is almost 100% mechanized, at the same time, internal traffic has been expanded, gradually solidified, so trucks can go to the fields to buy agricultural products, farmers are very excited.
Mr. Le The Hieu - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Dien Chau district said: "Linking production with enterprises is a particularly important issue in agricultural production today. Recognizing that, in recent years, the district has regularly paid attention to and directed localities to find reputable enterprises to link production. Therefore, a number of agricultural service cooperatives have been sensitive to linking production with enterprises, typically in the communes of Dien Phong, Dien Trung, Dien My, Dien Ky... annually purchasing products for more than 200 hectares of potatoes in the district. In addition, a number of other crops such as cabbage, sweet corn, biomass corn... are also purchased by enterprises. And rice is also linked in production with enterprises by a number of agricultural service cooperatives in the district...".
Nghe An is a locality with strong agricultural production, with over 130,000 hectares of rice and vegetable production. After converting and accumulating land, forming large fields, it has promoted the mechanization of agricultural production, thereby improving the efficiency of land potential, increasing labor productivity and ultimately economic benefits for farmers.
In fact, in the mountainous district of Thanh Chuong, farmers are hard-working and diligent, but if agricultural production is not modernized, labor efficiency will be low, especially when the agricultural labor force in this locality is increasingly aging. The midland district has a large rice growing area, so to increase cultivation capacity, many agricultural service cooperatives in Thanh Chuong have invested in applying the technology of transplanting seedlings in trays by machines, solving the sowing and planting stage for people - which is one of the most difficult times for rice production.
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dac - Director of Thanh Lien Agricultural Service Cooperative (Thanh Chuong) said: Previously, every time the planting season began, farmers had to work extremely hard, because from land preparation to sowing, harvesting... all were done by human and buffalo power, resulting in very low labor efficiency. Therefore, the policy of converting land from small plots to large plots according to Directive No. 08 - CT/TU dated May 8, 2012 of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee was a turning point in agricultural production. After the consolidation, the fields were hundreds, thousands of square meters wide.2was formed, facilitating mechanization in production, including machine planting.
“With the Japanese technology tray transplanting service, it has been shown that not only does it save time, effort, and water, but the rice plants also grow much better than when transplanted by hand. With machine transplanting, the plants are tall, have strong tillers, have even density, and bright leaves, thus reducing pests and diseases, and the rice panicles are large, the rice grains are firm and bright... In the past 5 years, each crop, the cooperative has received machine tray transplanting on an area of 100 hectares out of the total area of 385 hectares of the locality. From there, it has contributed to accelerating the improvement of fields, land consolidation, plot exchange, and promoting the formation of service groups, in order to create linkages in production, gradually creating a value chain of goods and services in agriculture, bringing benefits to the community”, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dac shared.
Coming to Dien Lien commune, Dien Chau district in the middle of the summer-autumn rice growing season, it was also the occasion for Dien Lien Agricultural Service Cooperative to organize pesticide spraying by drone. Present at this "event", old farmer To Van Tuan confided: "I have seen on TV many places spraying pesticides by airplanes, I thought it was from abroad; now seeing with my own eyes the airplane spraying pesticides on the fields of my hometown, I believe it is real". The members of the commune were clearly excited, because they would no longer have to carry a manual bottle on their backs to spray pesticides on the rice, which was hard, not very effective, and also affected their health.
Learning more about the issue of linking rice production with enterprises, Mr. Vo Van Giap - Director of Dien Lien Agricultural Service Cooperative said that for the past 5 years, the Cooperative has linked with enterprises in Nam Dinh province to consume products. Accordingly, every year on this 235-hectare area, the enterprise supplies seeds, fertilizers, care techniques and guarantees 100% of fresh rice products for farmers. During the harvest season, the entire rice area is harvested by machine, and the fresh rice is purchased on the spot by the enterprise at the price signed at the beginning of the season. "Because the enterprise has a contract with a purchase price right from the beginning of the season, along with the participation of the Cooperative, all input costs such as fertilizers, pest control, land preparation, harvesting, etc. are reduced; along with that, the output is guaranteed, so farmers have high profits," Mr. Vo Van Giap shared more.
To have a production link with enterprises, according to Mr. Giap, the first step is to build large fields, the locality has completed the second land conversion according to Directive No. 08 - CT/TU dated May 8, 2012 of the Provincial Party Standing Committee. Accordingly, by 2013, each farming household will have 4 - 5 plots, reduced to 2 - 3 plots. Traffic, irrigation, embankments, and embankments are invested in and expanded, creating conditions for mechanization in production and regulation of irrigation water. This is also the "key" to unlocking the "bottleneck" for restructuring the agricultural and rural sectors...
Considered the "leading bird" in Yen Thanh rice district, Tho Thanh Agricultural Service Cooperative has created trust among farmers. Mr. Ho Sy Quang - Director of Tho Thanh Agricultural Service Cooperative said: This summer-autumn crop, the Cooperative has linked up to produce 100 hectares of rice, and in the spring crop, it will be able to link up to produce 200 hectares. Accordingly, the Cooperative provides everything from land preparation, tray seeding, machine planting, to pest control to harvesting. Farmers only do light work such as fertilizing, weeding, visiting the fields... until harvest day, all fresh rice products are purchased by the enterprise at a price agreed upon at the beginning of the crop. “Farmers now do not focus on farming as before, because young workers are looking for jobs in companies, factories, etc.; only the elderly stay at home to farm, so farming is not enough. Therefore, cooperatives must step in and link with businesses to solve the problem of abandoned fields. By linking well with businesses, cooperatives not only have jobs and income, but also help farming households stick to their fields and improve their economic life,” said Mr. Ho Sy Quang.
It can be seen that the application of scientific and technical advances and mechanization of agricultural production not only helps farmers increase their income and the value of agricultural products, but also saves time and effectively solves the problem of labor shortage. The plantations, plot exchange, and land accumulation are the premise for gradually mechanizing agricultural production and linking production to solve the above problems. This is also the roadmap for restructuring the agricultural sector, reorganizing production, improving the product value chain, promoting closed-loop production from input to product consumption, thereby improving productivity and income for farmers.
