The golden time to reduce the cost of rice production in the Mekong Delta: [Part 3]: Cooperative actively applies many solutions

In the context of high fertilizer prices, many cooperatives in the Mekong Delta have come up with many solutions to reduce costs in rice production.

Reduce seed sowing

Coming to Tan Long Cooperative in Tan Long Hamlet, Vinh Tuong Commune, Vi Thuy District, Hau Giang Province, Mr. Nguyen Van Thich, Deputy Director of the cooperative was excited to know that now the cost of rice production per crop of the cooperative has decreased by about 45 %, equivalent to 5 - 6 million VND/ha.

Compared with the traditional way of rice production, Thich analyzed, when the cost reduction solutions were not implemented, on average, farmers used nearly 500kg of fertilizers of all kinds for each hectare, the cost of soil preparation, and spraying. , plant protection drugs... the total cost of production for a crop is up to 13-15 million VND/ha, sometimes up to nearly 20 million VND/ha.

According to the recommendations of the agricultural industry, Tan Long Cooperative has built a process to reduce production costs, deployed to all members of the cooperative to apply simultaneously.

Accordingly, the process focuses on reducing the amount of seed sown from 120 kg/ha to 70 kg/ha, and the cooperative develops a roadmap to cut about 10% of the number of chemical fertilizers per crop, this approach also contributes to the reduction of pests and diseases and the number of times of pesticide spraying.

“In the past, it was a tradition for people to use pesticides without any process. Chemical fertilizers are now about 150%, when I did a few crops ago, the urea fertilizer was just over 300 thousand VND/bag (50 kg) but now it is nearly 1 million VND, and DAP the day before, I sold it to people for only 600 thousand VND. /bag is now 1.5 million dong/bag. In the past, chemical fertilizers were applied at 50 kg/work (1,000 square meters) or more, not less than, all kinds of chemical fertilizers, squeezing out the nutrients of the soil," said Thich.

Similarly, in the last 3 rice crops, Toan Phat Cooperative in Thanh Phu commune, Co Do district, Can Tho city has mobilized its members to apply a 30% reduction in the amount of seed sown, equivalent to 180-190 kg/ ha to 140 kg/ha.

According to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hong, Chairman of Toan Phat Cooperative's Board of Directors, in the past, with one land, the cost of fertilizer only ranged from 600 to 700 thousand VND, but now it has reached more than 1 million VND, the cost, however, rice prices did not increase, farmers did not have much profit, so they were forced to find ways to reduce costs. Although the sowing variety is reduced, the harvested rice output is maintained at an average of 700-800kg/work, equivalent to before.

Mr. Hong also said: "If the agricultural industry issues a specific cost reduction process that is widely applicable to farmers, according to science, I will follow it. As long as the costs can be reduced, the farmers will agree. immediately".

Timely grasping information about changes in the fertilizer market, Mr. Nguyen Van Dam, Director of Tin Phat Cooperative in Ke Thanh commune, Ke Sach District, Soc Trang province proactively supplied goods to farmers. Since then, cooperative members can easily benefit from a sudden increase in fertilizer prices. The cooperative also has a support policy to help its members buy fertilizer at a price 3 to 5% cheaper than the market.

“The cooperative mobilizes its members by all means to limit production costs as much as possible. For example, early soil preparation, plowing and burying straw, especially to reduce sowing seeds, if the amount of seed sown is too much, it must waste fertilizer", Mr. Dam said.

According to Mr. Dam, the production cost of the cooperative is currently about 2.5 million VND/person, of which the cost of fertilizer has accounted for 40%. Compared with farmers who cultivate outside the cooperative model, this cost is about 500,000 VND/worker. The cooperative also implements many policies to support costs and provide training on technology transfer to help members reduce losses.

In addition, Tin Phat Cooperative is also developing according to the model of rice seed production, so the value of rice has been raised, the price of rice the cooperative is buying for its members is about 1,000 VND/kg higher than the market.

Balance organic fertilizers, chemical fertilizers to reduce costs

While fertilizer prices increased and remained at a high threshold, many farmers had to cry "heaven", we were quite surprised when representatives of cooperatives were excited that this was an opportunity for farmers to change their production habits. , reducing dependence on chemical fertilizers.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hong, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Toan Phat Cooperative gave a typical example, he is currently collaborating with the Can Tho Sub-Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection to test 10 hectares of rice by organic methods.

Specifically, the amount of chemical and organic fertilizers he used was in the ratio of 50:50. Before tilling the land, Mr. Hong used organic fertilizers to fertilize the soil, after tilling he continued to use microbial organic fertilizers to fertilize the soil. For more than 20 to 30 days for rice plants, he used chemical fertilizers for the first time. With this approach, the cost of rice production at the end of the crop can be reduced by 300-400 thousand VND/worker.

During the testing process, according to Mr. Hong's assessment, pests and diseases also rarely appeared, currently, the rice field is about 1 week to the harvest date, the rice grows well, and the yield is evaluated very well by him. equivalent to the old way.

In Hau Giang province, Tan Long Cooperative is the leading unit of the province to succeed with the organic rice farming model and owns the brand name "Vi Thuy clean rice". The product has been recognized by the province's 4-star OCOP and more than 110 hectares of the cooperative's production area have been recognized for the VietGap process.

Sharing about the successful journey, Mr. Nguyen Van Thich, Deputy Director of the cooperative confided that when the cooperative decided to switch to organic production, only a few members agreed. Then, from a few hectares of initial trial planting, it gradually expanded, up to now, the cooperative has 138 hectares of organic rice-growing area.

“I make the tradition of using chemical fertilizers and pesticides, instead of using the correct dosage on the package, farmers arbitrarily increase it. There's also a lot of chemical fertilizers, abuse like that is to spend your own money in an unreasonable way," said Thich.

The organic production process of Tan Long Cooperative is carried out step by step. For the areas that have not used organic fertilizers, the cooperative divides the balance between 50% of the number of chemical fertilizers and 50% of organic fertilizers for the soil. Through each crop, the rate of chemical fertilizers used will gradually decrease by 40%, 30% and increase the rate of organic fertilizers, creating conditions for the soil to recover, rice plants fewer pests and diseases, reducing the number of times spraying pesticides for plants. paddy.

According to the organic cost reduction process introduced by the cooperative, production profits using organic fertilizers increased by about 16.33% compared to using chemical fertilizers. Moreover, the output of organic rice is safe and valuable, helping the cooperative to stand firm in the current market and climate change context.

 “The cooperative has to change the method so that rice on the same land and area can create a valuable product in the market. In the past, people only looked at the production numbers and sold what they had to invite people to buy. Now, the direction of the cooperative's development is that whatever the market needs, the cooperative provides that product, looking at economic profits", Mr. Thich shared.

More specifically, when the market for agricultural materials fluctuated, Tan Long Cooperative was almost unaffected, because the cooperative actively developed in the direction of an organic-centered agricultural economy three years ago. The revenue of the unit increased markedly year by year, if in 2019 the revenue of the cooperative was only nearly 2 billion VND, by the end of 2021 it had increased to nearly 10 billion VND. In 2022, the cooperative's revenue must reach 20 billion VND.