Make organic fabric, don't worry about the price

End of struggling to sell cloth

At the beginning of June, the main litchi hills of Thanh Hai Agricultural Cooperative, Luc Ngan district (Bac Giang) began to turn red. Because it has been rooted in this land for 30 years, the lychee tree here almost every year has a good harvest, bright fruit, late ripening and a higher price than the beginning of the crop.

From 2021, the cooperative is granted a planting area code for 10 hectares of organic lychee production for export to the Japanese market. Mr. Vuong Van Loi, Deputy Director of the cooperative excitedly said that growing organic litchi is "healthier", both literally and figuratively. People are no longer obsessed with pesticides and chemical fertilizers, and at the same time are committed to offsetting the output.

“The entire area of organically cultivated litchi is consumed, with a committed price of 35,000 VND/kg, the remaining 90 hectares of the cooperative will be consumed in the domestic market or in China. Some units have come to ask questions, but we are still watching the market,” Mr. Loi said.

Finding an outlet for 1,000 tons of lychee is what worries Mr. Loi and 16 members of Thanh Hai Cooperative. Litchi is a relatively fastidious plant, requiring intensive care from the end of the previous year's crop until harvest. In addition to diseases such as downy mildew, resin discharge, anthracnose, eczema, people also worry about pests, especially fruit stem borers.

Not only taking care, when it comes time to harvest, people also have to carry each basket of cloth along the zigzag hillsides, just enough for motorbikes to run to the purchasing points. Hundreds of tons of fabric are carried like that to the national highway, but not always sold out. In addition, due to moving tens of kilometers, the fabric is hard to avoid being crushed and crushed; The quality and design are affected, leading to the problem of deduction of balance when trading.

Having said that, having a car to go to the garden to buy is a big step forward. People like Mr. Loi just need to "get in the car to receive money". Aware of that, members of Thanh Hai Cooperative told each other to actively shift towards organic farming. With advice and guidance from agricultural officials, Mr. Loi and some relatives used GA-50 microbial organic fertilizer of Song Gianh Corporation.

“Combined with the use of active irrigation, and technical measures such as tending, pruning, creating canopy, and preventing pests and diseases that are carried out regularly, this year's litchi of our cooperative is less prone to eczema. , bright code, promises a bumper crop", Mr. Loi expressed.

“In order for the cooperative to develop stably, we urgently need the attention of the state by supporting packaging, labels, with beautiful and suitable forms for the product to have a firm foothold in the market. Especially, support stamps for traceability and transparency of product information", Mr. Loi confided.

Quality, productivity increase, beautiful design

Mr. Nguyen Van Hoan, in charge of market sales in Bac Giang province of Song Gianh Corporation, shared, the biggest problem when convincing people to switch to organic farming is output, because many farmers believe that, Output and output are difficult to guarantee, easily affecting income at the end of the crop.

Combined with a group of technicians who actively follow the fields and farmers, Song Gianh has implemented a demonstration model of organic farming in Mui village, Giap Son commune, Luc Ngan district during the post-harvest stage of lychee. results in 2021 and 2022.

After carefully analyzing the mechanical composition, pH and the contents of Nts, Pdt... in the soil, the Company uses organic fertilizers to make the soil texture more porous, helping the lychee roots to develop, and at the same time improve the drainage capacity of the garden.

Mr. Tran Duc Thang, residing in Muoi village, Giap Son commune - one of the households participating in the model admits, taking care of lychee by traditional methods is quite hard. After being advised to switch to organic farming, lychee care became more scientific such as: Having a clear record book; In addition to GA-50 fertilizer, he fertilizes some other types such as rotting chicken manure, soybean meal... to take advantage of the available by-products.

Previously, when the lychee produced a lot of winter buds, Mr. Thang could use chemical drugs within the allowable limits to eradicate it, but now it is recommended to use only manual measures. When detecting pests, herbs are the last option if manual methods are not effective.

“When the crop is over, I summarize that when visiting the garden, I take more care of the garden. In return, investment costs are reduced, income is guaranteed," Thang said.

According to the Bac Giang Plant Protection and Cultivation Sub-Department, on the same litchi variety, the tree's age and barefoot are similar, all parameters of the model are slightly better than those of the control garden. Specifically, the brix (sweetness) increased by an average of 0.5% compared to the control without microbial organic fertilizer; lychee weight increased by about 7.6%; the physiological rate of fruit drop is lower than 6.6%; lychee yield increased by 14.2%. In particular, the fruit has a brighter, more beautiful design.

In this year's lychee crop, the weather is unpredictable, when it's cloudy, the air humidity is up to more than 90%; In May, the weather turns hotter than 32 degrees Celsius, it often has alternating showers. The risk of damage of caterpillars, brown spray beetles, and caterpillars is quite large in the flower - post-fruiting stage.

However, up to this point, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Luc Ngan district confidently affirmed that this year's lychee is a good season. The fruit setting rate is from 70 to 90%; the district's fresh fruit production is forecast at about 95,465 tons (of which about 20,850 tons of early ripening litchi, about 74,615 tons of main season litchi).

As of June 9, the cumulative consumption of early ripening litchi is 3,938 tons; Product selling price ranges from 18,000 - 35,000 VND/kg. Early ripening litchi products are mainly consumed in the domestic market with about 2,067 tons (Southern provinces, supermarkets, retail stores in Hanoi and some northern provinces); exported about 1,795 tons (mainly to Cambodia market through Moc Bai border gate, Tay Ninh province, to China through Lang Son border gate).

Currently, the whole Luc Ngan district has 12,860 hectares of litchi produced according to VietGAP standards (accounting for about 80% of the area) and 117 hectares produced according to GlobalGAP standards. In the coming time, the district plans to expand the area of lychee cultivation according to good agricultural practices such as: Expanding from 60 to 70 hectares of litchi produced according to VietGAP standards and 20 hectares according to GlobalGAP standards. In addition, the district is determined to maintain standard certified lychee production areas of key communes including Hong Giang, Giap Son, Tan Son, Tan Hoa, Thanh Hai, Ho Dap and lychee export areas.