Soc Trang: The VnSAT project changes farming practices for farmers

Phuoc An Cooperative, Chau Thanh district, Soc Trang province, participates in the VnSAT Project. Farmers here are used to applying new techniques, so they have always had a good harvest in the past few years.

Mr. Nguyen Van Han, Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Chau Thanh district (Soc Trang province), said: Since the VnSAT project started to support farmers, people's rice production practices have entirely changed. Before 2016, farmers sowed thick rice according to the old method, with 200 kilograms of seed rice per hectare, but now, this amount has decreased to 80-100 kilograms.

The fact that farmers have now reduced the amount of seed sown by more than 50% compared to the past is due to the significant contribution from the VnSAT Project through providing technical guidance on rice cultivation following the rules of "3 decrease, 3 increase" and "1 must 5 decrease".

Although the seed sown is reduced, the rice yield has increased higher than before. In addition, pests and diseases on rice have been significantly reduced so that farmers can limit fertilizer and pesticide use.

The rice production cost is also reduced, contributing to increasing profits for farmers and protecting the environment and also being safe for the health of rice growers and consumers.

Currently, in the VnSAT project areas, there are 6,000 hectares of rice production applying the farming techniques "3 decrease, 3 increase" and "1 must 5 decrease" in Phu Tan, Phu Tam, An Hiep, Thuan Hoa, and Ho Dac Kien communes, and Chau Thanh Town (Chau Thanh District). Thanks to the effectiveness of the VnSAT Project, the total rice area involved has increased to 9,000 hectares.

Not only Chau Thanh district, in the rice production area of Thanh Tri district, farmers' awareness has also changed since the VnSAT project supported infrastructure and trained rice cultivation under advanced techniques. The instruction and dissemination of rice farming techniques "3 decrease, 3 increase" and "1 must 5 decrease" are being applied by many farmers in Lam Tan, Thanh Tan, Lam Kiet, Thanh Tri, Tuan Tuc communes.

The reduction in rice varieties sown since the application of the farming procedures of the VnSAT Project has made significant sense. As a result, when fertilizer prices sharply increase, farmers are not too worried about production costs and agricultural materials. Up to now, Thanh Tri district has more than 80% of farmers who have carefully applied "3 decrease, 3 increase" and "1 must 5 decrease".

Soc Trang province has over 147,600 hectares, a rice cultivation area of over 327,800 hectares, and an output of over 2 million tonnes per year. The province has 91 rice cooperatives and over 1,200 cooperative groups.

Soc Trang province has many famous specialty rice varieties, especially ST rice varieties, with a total output of over 1.1 million tonnes/year. In the past 5 years (2016 - 2021), the VnSAT project has been deployed on 43,000 hectares, with nearly 30,000 farming households in 30 communes in 6 districts of Chau Thanh, Ke Sach, My Xuyen, Long Phu, and Thanh. Tri, My Tu participated.

The VnSAT project has also supported 31 cooperatives to promote comprehensive development with many support solutions such as the capacity building of cooperative leaders, guiding cooperative members to apply advanced techniques, etc., in rice production.

Mr. Lam Phuong Tung, Director of Phu An Agricultural Cooperative, Phu Tan Commune (Ke Sach District, Soc Trang Province), said: At the end of August 2019, the VnSAT Project's Management Board of Soc Trang province handed over a large warehouse with a spacious capacity of 1,000 tonnes, with the value of over VND 4 billion.

Besides the warehouse, the VnSAT project also supported more than VND 5.9 billion to build a concrete road and bridge over 1.3 kilometers long.

The fact that the VnSAT Project supports the construction of warehouses for cooperatives makes a lot of sense. From now on, the large field of 523 hectares produces two rice crops, each yielding more than 3,000 tonnes of rice, which can be proactive in drying, milling, or storing rice for the cooperative.

The warehouse of Tho Hoa Dong A cooperative, Phu Tam commune, Ke Sach district, was built according to the design with a capacity of 1,000 tonnes and has just been handed over to 385 member farmers. Part of the warehouse has temporarily stored fertilizers and rice seeds. Another part of the warehouse is invested by the cooperative members of VND 400 million to install a drying system with 8 tonnes/time capacity.

Mr. Ninh Van Quang, Director of Tho Hoa Dong A Cooperative, said: Members of Tho Hoa Dong A Cooperative are delighted and contributed an additional VND 265 million to buy 3,000 m2 of land to build warehouses and yards. With a rice output of over 3,500 tonnes/crop, the cooperative will take the entire initiative in all stages, from production to processing and consumption.

Mr. Tran Trang Nha, Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thanh Tri district, assessed: The VnSAT project has helped farmers approach and apply advanced rice production techniques. Thereby, it has created a lot of changes not only in farmers' awareness but also directly in reducing costs and increasing profits in rice production.

According to Mr. Huynh Van But, Deputy Director of the VnSAT Project in Soc Trang province, a survey at 12 cooperatives of 6 districts implementing the project showed that: The rate of using aromatic and specialty rice varieties (before the 2015 Project) was 50,5%, but by 2020 it reached 82%, an increase of 31.5%.

Rice yield by 2020 reached 6.55 tonnes per hectares, an increase of more than 0.9 tonnes per hectare compared to before 2015. The cost of rice production was from VND 17.8 million/hectare/crop (2015), but in 2020 reduced to VND 16 million/hectare/crop. The rice production cost decreased from VND 3,158 per kilogram (before 2015) to VND 2,302 in 2020, a decrease of VND 856/kilogram. Profit in 2015 reached 25%, but by 2020 it increased to 30.3%.