Recover position for sugarcane: Need a closer 'handshake' between farmers and businesses

Need to harmonize benefits

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Recover position for sugarcane: '4 transformations' in sugarcane production

Mrs. Le Thi Van's family in Song Bung hamlet, Ninh Tay commune (Ninh Hoa town, Khanh Hoa), has been attached to sugarcane for two generations and has now been in the profession for nearly 30 years. Previously, the family had approximately 10 hectares of sugarcane, and they also signed a cooperation contract with a sugar factory for product consumption.

Mrs. Van as well as many sugarcane farmers admitted that, in recent times, sugarcane in Khanh Hoa is a crop that has a fairly good linkage with the sugar production industry. Two sugar factories in the area have signed contracts with farmer households to produce and consume products, so there is no sugarcane congestion, except for force majeure cases.

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Recover position for sugarcane: Pull farmers back to raw material areas

However, in recent years, because the income from this crop does not ensure their livelihood, many farmers have turned their backs on sugarcane and gradually switched to other crops.

For example, Mrs. Van's family has converted most of the sugarcane area to growing acacia and cassava. It is worth mentioning that in the last two sugarcane crops, she also abandoned the linkage with the sugar factory because she found the benefits unsatisfactory. Currently, during the harvest crop, she sells sugarcane freely to the sugar factory, where it is purchased at a higher price.

"From the grasped information, sugarcane in Khanh Hoa province is now purchased by sugar factories at a price of VND 1,130,000/ton, which is still lower than in other localities. Therefore, in order for farmers to feel secure in planting sugarcane and accompanying sugar factories for a long time, we hope that sugar companies balance, purchase sugarcane at higher prices, and maintain a stable commercial cane sugar (CCS). Only then will we focus on investing in and taking care of sugarcane to achieve productivity and output to meet raw materials for the factory," said Mrs. Van.

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Recover position for sugarcane: Living well thanks to sugarcane production without discarding anything

In fact, in the past 2-3 years, a lot of farmers in Ninh Tay commune have abandoned sugarcane and switched to growing acacia and cassava. Furthermore, there are currently two acacia purchasing factories in the commune. In recent times, the price of acacia has been high and stable, ensuring more profit than sugarcane.

Similarly, Mr. Nguyen Ba Thuat in Ninh Thuong commune (Ninh Hoa town) said that his family has 3 hectares of sugarcane and has now converted 1 hectare to grow cassava. When comparing sugarcane and cassava for this crop, growing cassava is more effective. In recent years, a lot of sugarcane in the commune has been abandoned to grow other crops. Therefore, to revive sugarcane, he hopes sugar factories will pay more attention to supporting farmers in investing in sugarcane. If the sugar factory does not have effective policies, people will gradually lose interest in sugarcane.

Mandatory to proactively "thirst-quench" for sugarcane

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Recover position for sugarcane: For Phu Quy farmers, sugarcane is No.1

Mr. Su Hong Quoc Tinh, Chairman of the Ninh Tay Commune People's Committee, said that people in the commune are currently very dedicated to sugarcane, but most of the sugarcane area in the commune cannot be proactively irrigated, so sugarcane productivity is unstable.

Previously, the State and sugar factories had policies to support digging water ponds and drilling wells to get water to irrigate sugarcane, but it was not positive because the local soil was full of rocks and drilling wells required electricity for implementation.

According to Mr. Tinh, in fact, digged ponds can store water in the rainy season, but they run out of water in the dry season, including drilled wells. Meanwhile, in the dry season, sugarcane needs water, but water is not enough to meet its demand. Therefore, the plan of digging ponds to store irrigation water for sugarcane is not effective. Only investing in large water reservoirs can ensure that the sugarcane area is proactively and regularly irrigated. Until then, sugarcane productivity in the commune will certainly increase highly.

According to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Binh, Head of the Ninh Hoa Town Economic Department, to revive sugarcane in the area, the Ninh Hoa Town People's Committee will continue to strengthen agricultural extension work and guide people to apply scientific and technical advances to production to improve productivity and quality.

Along with that, continue to invest in the construction of irrigation structures to ensure irrigation water sources for production, especially the completion and operation of irrigation structures such as Song Cho 1, Cha Rang, and Song Bung reservoirs.

Synchronous mechanization is a vital requirement

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Recover positon for sugarcane: Billionaires in large fields

Mr. Vo Ngoc Phi Vu, Chairman of the People's Committee of Ninh Tan commune (Ninh Hoa town), said that sugar factories need to have plans and solutions and share them with farmers to reduce investment costs in sugarcane farming. Along with that, sugar factories should have a capital source without interest to support people in investing in sugarcane farming, as well as effective, practical, and more beneficial support and investment policies for sugarcane-growing households.

Besides, equip a modern machinery system for planting, caring for, and harvesting sugarcane to gradually reduce the use of manual labor. In addition, transfer to sugarcane-growing households new varieties with high productivity and CCS, and resistance to pests.

According to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Binh, Head of the Ninh Hoa Town Economic Department, sugar businesses in the area should have more practical and attractive investment support policies for sugarcane growers so that people can feel secure in production. For example, CCS insurance; support for loading and transportation; investment preferences; a commitment to 100% product consumption, etc. At the same time, deploy advanced sugarcane production models and apply mechanization synchronously to production to reduce investment costs and increase economic efficiency.

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Recover position for sugarcane: Each household growing hundreds of hectares of sugarcane is still healthy

Mr. Le Ba Ninh, Deputy Director of the Khanh Hoa Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that in order to effectively and sustainably develop sugarcane, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has advised the province to plan a stable sugarcane production area of 12,000 hectares. This is the legal basis for localities and two sugar companies in the province to have orientations to develop raw material areas.

Regarding policy, the Government issued Decree No. 98/2018/ND-CP dated July 5, 2018 on incentive policy for development of linkages in production and consumption of agricultural products. Pursuant to this Decree, the two sugar companies need to mobilize sugarcane growers to participate in production linkages. Through this linkage chain, businesses and farmers will enjoy support policies according to the provisions of Decree No. 98/2018/ND-CP, such as support for consulting, building production linkages and linkage serving infrastructure; support for agricultural extension, training, seeds, fertilizer, etc.

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Recover position for sugarcane: Rising from hardship

Besides, companies need to coordinate with the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Industry and Trade, and relevant localities to inspect and monitor the process of determining raw sugarcane quality to ensure transparency and accuracy in purchasing.

According to Mr. Le Ba Ninh, to revive sugarcane, companies need to continue to provide good support to sugarcane growers, such as: Investing capital for sugarcane farmers to purchase mechanization and irrigation machinery and equipment with preferential interest rates. Supporting farmers in renovating and expanding areas; applying mechanization, and reducing fertilizer material costs. Researching and putting into production sugarcane varieties with good productivity and quality. Supporting loading and transportation costs; having a reasonable sugarcane purchasing policy to ensure income for sugarcane growers.

Mr. Tran Thien Hung, Director of the Khanh Hoa Sub-Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection, said that to revive sugarcane, it is necessary to issue policies to support seeds, materials, and fertilizers for sugarcane growers. Along with that, guide sugarcane growers to apply 4.0 technology achievements, industrialization, and modernization from the stage of planting to harvesting to increase economic efficiency per unit area.