Firm wins big from model of organic rice, shrimp and crab growing

From organic vegetables...

The person who had initiated to turn the arid hill land in the west of Dong Hoi City, Quang Binh Province into an intensive organic vegetable farming area is a businessman specializing in the gas industry. Mr. Le Van Su, Director of Dong Duong Green Food Stock Company (Dong Duong Company) concluded: "It is necessary to have clean agriculture to ensure good health for the community".

Mr. Nguyen Le Minh, Project Manager of Dong Duong Company told us that the organic farming model has been implemented since 2017 on a scale of 5.5ha, mainly focusing on vegetables. In the farm, there are five greenhouses (each has an area of over 2,200 square meters), divided into many parts with distances able for cultivating many different types of vegetables and fruits. Fertilizers used there are all organic and no chemical pesticide is allowed.

Every year, the company supplies about 1,000 tons of clean vegetables and fruits to the market. It has expanded Dong Duong Clean Vegetable stores in the center of Dong Hoi City providing consumers with clean agricultural products following the VietGAP standards.

... to rice-shrimp-crab model 

Dong Duong Company and the Quang Binh Agriculture and Fisheries Extension Center implemented an organic rice production model on the land of Ham Ninh commune, Quang Ninh District in the last summer-autumn crop.

Mr. Nguyen Le Minh, head of the company’s Project Management Board said: “This is the first organic rice model implemented on Ham Ninh land. We selected the DT 18 rice variety for growing. Hopefully from this model, farmers and the company will expand production and grossed  high efficiency in clean agriculture."

From the last summer-autumn experience, the company has expanded its organic rice area to 15ha for this winter-spring crop with technical supports from the Quang Binh Agriculture and Fisheries Promotion Center. Of the total area, 10ha in Ham Ninh Commune is for rice-shrimp farming and 5ha in An Ninh Commune. Quang Ninh District is for rice growing.

Mr. Nguyen Van Gioi from Ham Ninh Commune, who directly participated in the model, said that his family is implementing it on nearly 2 hectares. During the cultivation process, he used up 50kg of organic fertilizer on about 0,05ha of rice field. The fertilizers are Biooptima 1 and Biooptima 2 produced by Tien Dong Investment Joint Stock Company.

"We only use biological pesticides, not pesticides in the production process," Gioi confirmed.

Many farmers in the area came to learn on the harvest days. Everyone praised the sturdy rice plant, the long and firm grain, even though the field where the model was carried out belonged to infertile soil. The rice yield in the model is about 60 quintals/ha compared to the average yield of 55 quintals/ha produced using local inorganic fertilizers.

Mr. Gioi also combines growing shrimp and crab in the area of 2ha to increase production efficiency. He said that in addition to farmed shrimp, there are also other natural shrimp varieties. As only organic fertilizers are used, a good environment is created for shrimps to grow strongly. Around the rice area is a cannel system with a water depth of about one meter.

In the morning on a cool windy field, we visited the field to see Gioi's harvest of shrimp. When the net was pulled out of the water, the sound of crawfish jumping was heard attractively. The dark blue adult shrimp kept curving their bodies and jumping. This type of shrimp has fragrant, sweet and delicious meat, so the price is quite expensive, averaging 250,000VND/kg.

Mr, Gioi was happy saying that he could harvest 3-4kg of farmed shrimp every day. He could also earn about VND30 million from selling natural shrimps after harvest.

According to Mr. Gioi, about 70% of the 500 released crabs could survive. Thus, the can harvest about 350 crabs each release. The weight of about three crabs/kg can be for trading. The selling price of farmed crabs is about 350,000 VND/kg, totaling over 35 million VND for one harvest.

 Mr. Gioi concluded: “The advantage of the model is that farmers can harvest aquatic products along with clean rice right in the field….”

In the field of Hoanh Vinh village (An Ninh Commune), the area selected for the organic rice model was nutrient-poor field. Mr. Tran Thanh Hai, Director of Quang Binh Agriculture and Fisheries Promotion Center, said that when implementing the model, we chose poor land to use organic fertilizers but just after three rice crops, the nutrients in the soil increase a lot and the next crop yield will be high and stable.

Due to poor soil seismicity, the rice yield of DT18 in the model is only nearly 50 quintals/ha. But Mr. Vo Doan Duc, Director of Hoanh Vinh Agricultural Service Cooperative (the unit implementing the model) acknowledged that, with such productivity on poor land, it is a good result. Farmers were very excited at this model.

"Next year, we will expand this model of organic rice production to encourage people to increase their farming area in the direction of organic growth," said Mr. Duc.

 "This is the new model of rice chain production implemented on a small scale will be a premise for us to expand on a larger scale. We will continue to accompany the Quang Binh Center for Agriculture and Fisheries Promotion to support farmers to have more and more stable and high income right on their own fields," said Mr. Nguyen Le Minh, Project Manager of Dong Duong Company.