Many typical highland economic models

Mr. Ha Trung Dung takes care of dragon fruit in his garden.

In Tom village, Dien Lu commune, Ms. Nguyen Thi Lam's integrated farm has become a typical example of local economic development. 10 years ago, she bid for a 30-year lease to renovate a barren hilly area. With the industrious nature of a lowland native who came to build the economy decades ago, she and her family started to reclaim land, develop livestock, and grow fruit trees and agricultural crops.

Maintaining production, taking short-term profits to support long-term ones to gradually reinvest, she has completed the infrastructure of the production area. When she reached the age of 60, she was still active in finding new crops and suitable animals to develop, aiming for the highest efficiency. In 2020, she converted and planted 1 hectare of green-skinned grapefruit, 1 hectare of seedless guava, and 10 sao of jackfruit. By 2023, the new crops had borne fruit thanks to following scientific production processes. In the past 2 years, each year her family harvested about 7 tons of grapefruit worth 210 million VND, 10 tons of guava worth 200 million VND, and 3 tons of jackfruit worth 60 million VND. The productivity of the crops increased gradually every year because the trees continued to mature and were purchased by traders at the garden.

Continuing to bring in new crops, her family has 4 sao of custard apple and 1 hectare of Siamese coconut, all of which have grown to the 4th and 5th year, and are starting to bear fruit. On the low land with a gentle slope at the foot of the hill, she has renovated it to grow sugarcane in a partnership with Lam Son Sugarcane Joint Stock Company, with sustainable post-harvest product consumption. Up to now, a green production area with a total area of 4.3 hectares has been established, and crop by-products and grass on the farm are used for livestock farming. All kinds of waste and discarded parts after harvest are also collected to compost into organic fertilizer. Without hiring experts or formal education, the spirit of self-learning knowledge of growing new crops has brought her success. According to the owner of the hill forest farm, each year the economic model brings in revenue of more than 1.5 billion VND; excluding labor, fertilizer and other investments, the profit is nearly 1 billion VND.

The second time back, the comprehensive economic model of Mr. Ha Trung Dung in Xuan Thang village, Thuong Xuan commune is increasingly invested in and scientifically arranged. Although he is an ethnic minority, with his dynamism in economic development, he has turned his home garden with an area of less than 3,000m2 into a model of VAC in the local hill area. On the flat land right in front of his house, he developed a 120-pillar dragon fruit garden, each year yielding many harvests with a total value of nearly 50 million VND. The gently sloping land in the distance is planned by him to grow pink-fleshed grapefruit and jackfruit. Under the canopy of fruit trees, dozens of bee colonies are cared for by him every day, both providing sweet honey and helping the fruit trees pollinate for higher yields. On the lowest land adjacent to the forest, he dug a pond to raise fish and store water for year-round irrigation of crops. Livestock farming brings in more than 800 million VND per year for the family with a system of barns invested with biogas tanks and modern waste treatment. Along the roads and around the pond, he also takes advantage of planting peony bushes, bougainvillea and many ornamental plants to create a landscape and generate additional income at many times of the year.

Mr. Ha Trung Dung shared: “Previously, the garden only grew acacia and cassava like other families in the locality. Realizing that the economic value was not high, in 2013, after attending a training course and being allowed to visit many places by the Gardening and Farm Association of the old Thuong Xuan district, I returned determined to renovate. Every time I bring in new crops, I have to test some of them to see if they are suitable for the soil and climate. Now the profit from production in the home garden each year is about 400 million VND, showing that it is completely possible to get rich on mountainous land if you know how to apply techniques to bring new crops into cultivation instead of just being loyal to acacia and cassava...”.

According to the Thanh Hoa Province Gardening and Farming Association, after 3 years of organizing the contest “Beautiful gardens, model farms”, there have been about 50 beautiful and effective model gardens and farms in the highland areas of the province participating in the contest. Many models have applied new technical advances to cultivation, bringing about the same efficiency as the models in the plains. More importantly, the highland economic models have created an effect on the movement to renovate mixed gardens and forest hills to develop the economy more effectively.

Article and photos: Linh Truong

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/nhieu-dien-hinh-kinh-te-vung-cao-260056.htm