Effectiveness of models

According to Mr. Cong Xuan Ngoc, Director of Son La Agricultural Extension Center, the Northwest in general and Son La in particular have weather, climate and soil characteristics that are very suitable for growing tropical, temperate and subtropical fruit trees, so they are always considered by local authorities and professional sectors as the main crop group in agricultural production.

However, due to the mountainous plateau terrain, inconvenient transportation, and distance from major consumption and processing centers, fruit production here still faces many difficulties.

In order to effectively exploit the potential and available advantages of the highlands, gradually turning the Northwest into a large concentrated fruit production area, synchronously applying advanced technologies, on the basis of sustainable linkages between cooperatives and processing and exporting enterprises, the National Agricultural Extension Center has implemented the Project: "Building a fruit tree production model according to VietGAP to serve the development of raw material areas associated with consumption linkages in some Northwestern provinces", assigning the Son La Agricultural Extension Center to be the focal point for coordination.

Leaders of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Son La inspected the passion fruit growing model of the Project by the Son La Agricultural Extension Center.
deployed in the province.

The project will be implemented for 3 years (2022 - 2024), producing fruits including mango, pineapple, passion fruit in 3 provinces of Hoa Binh, Son La and Dien Bien, and has so far completed the set goals and plans. Son La Agricultural Extension Center alone has built 8 intensive fruit tree cultivation models of VietGAP with a total area of ​​85 hectares. The fruit tree varieties put into production in the project models are all new technical advances, high productivity and fruit quality such as GL4 mango, DG1 passion fruit and Queen pineapple. Of which, there are 3 mango production models (60 hectares/3 years), 1 passion fruit production model (5 hectares) and 4 pineapple production models (20 hectares). The demonstration models are implemented in Mai Son, Yen Chau, Thuan Chau, Muong La and Song Ma districts.

As a result, productivity and production efficiency in the project models have increased by 10-20% compared to the control. All products have been certified by VietGAP, exported fresh fruit to China, the US and European countries or purchased by Dong Giao Food Export Joint Stock Company (Doveco) and Tuan Tai Joint Stock Company for processing and export. The project has initially created stable fruit material areas, with planting area codes and traceability.

Pineapple growing model of the Project in Dien Bien province.

Mr. Lo Van Ngoan in Huoi Mo village, Chieng Khuong commune (Song Ma district, Son La) grows 3 hectares of Queen pineapple in the Project, with a yield of 30 - 45 tons of fruit/ha (depending on the year), after deducting all investment costs, he still makes a profit of 70 - 130 million VND/year, 15 - 25% higher than pineapple production areas outside the model.

Mr. Ngoan excitedly said that thanks to the support, training and technical guidance from agricultural extension officers, for the past 3 years he has earned nearly 400 million VND per year from growing pineapples and has mastered the intensive cultivation techniques of this crop, especially the techniques for pineapples to bear fruit off-season and in-season. Mr. Ngoan said he will continue to expand the pineapple growing area in the following years.

At the passion fruit growing model of Mr. Lo Van Sam in Chi village, Chieng Luong commune (Mai Son district) and the GL4 mango growing model of Song Ma Mango Agricultural Service Cooperative in Hung Mai village, Na Nghiu commune (Song Ma district), we also recorded similar results, production efficiency increased by 15 - 30% compared to households outside the model (depending on mango or passion fruit production).

Difficulty and challenge

Mr. Cong Xuan Ngoc, Director of Son La Agricultural Extension Center, said that during the implementation of the Project, many households had the habit of using cheap, highly toxic pesticides, leading to difficulties in propaganda and production guidance; most households participating in the model lacked knowledge of caring for mango, passion fruit and pineapple according to VietGAP standards, especially in the following stages: balanced fertilization techniques, pruning and shaping, flowering treatment and integrated pest management (IPM) on fruit trees.

Besides, investing in intensive mango cultivation for export requires a huge amount of capital, beyond the investment capacity of most households, especially having to buy good quality fruit bags, so farmers have not boldly invested in production to create safe fruit material areas with large output for domestic consumption and export.

On the other hand, due to the lack of connection and sharing of production experience among farmers and the lack of product consumption contracts, the productivity, quality and efficiency of fruit tree cultivation among households have quite large differences.

Enterprises come to consume pineapple products in the Project in Dien Bien province.

Expand production

In addition to successfully building local models, Son La Agricultural Extension Center also effectively coordinated the implementation of VietGAP pineapple and passion fruit production models in Mai Chau, Yen Thuy (Hoa Binh), and Muong Cha (Dien Bien) districts. The total fruit output of the entire Project is estimated at nearly 2,880 tons (fresh fruit) of all kinds.

The results achieved from the Project will be the basis for provinces to issue policies to support farmers in converting low-efficiency crop areas to high-value crops and promote the rapid formation of cooperatives and cooperative groups for concentrated fruit tree production in the area. At the same time, it will contribute to changing the small-scale production habits of people to concentrated production in the direction of goods, increasing farmers' income associated with linkages between economic sectors. The Project's models will be a destination for farmers in the area to visit, learn and expand production.

According to: Rural Economics Electronic Magazine