Red chili plants are grown in a net house in Trà Vinh Province’s Duyên Hải District. VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Hòa

TRÀ VINH — Vegetable farmers in Trà Vinh Province are earning high profits because of high selling prices and demand.

The prices of vegetables are now VNĐ3,000-10,000 (10-40 US cents) per kilogramme higher than a week ago because of supply does not meet demand.

The demand in HCM City and southeast provinces is increasing because it is the rainy season so vegetable output is lower than during the dry season, according to the province’s Plant Cultivation and Protection Sub-department.

Kim Thi, who grows vegetables in a 2,000sq.m net house in Châu Thành District’s Hòa Lợi Commune, said the province had a lot of rain in the past week which impacted the yield of vegetables, especially those grown in open air.

Thanks to the net house, his vegetables have high yield and quality and their selling prices are 15-20 per cent higher than normal vegetables, he said.

He earns an average profit of VNĐ120 million ($4,700) a year, he said.

The district’s Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development assisted him to get a soft loan to build the net house and install a drip irrigation system in 2022, he said.

Net-house-grown vegetables offer a profit of 1.5 to two times higher than those grown in open air because they have higher yield, quality and selling prices, according to farmers.

The Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta province has encouraged and assisted farmers to invest in net houses.

It provides financial support of up to VNĐ50 million ($1,950) for farmers to build an open net house and up to VNĐ100 million ($3,900) for a closed net house, which covers 1,000sq.m each.

Farmers are also assisted to access soft loans.

Lê Văn Đông, director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said his agency is restructuring crop cultivation in mixed orchards and unproductive rice fields, and is encouraging farmers to switch to vegetables, especially in net-house farms.

It has provided financial support for farmers who have sustainable farming models to invest in farming facilities, machines and infrastructure, he said.

Rice farmers who switched to growing vegetables earn a profit of two to three times higher than growing rice.

Vegetable farmers earn an average profit of VNĐ120-130 million ($4,700-5,000) per hectare a year, according to the department.

Thạch Thịnh in Châu Thành District’s Hòa Lợi Commune said that under the encouragement of local agricultural officials, he turned his 2,000sq.m rice field into vegetables last year as his farm is far away from irrigation canals and could not grow two to three rice crops a year.

He grows tomato, cucumber, green mustard and herbs, and earns an average profit of VNĐ20 million ($800) during a vegetable crop that lasts two to three months, he said.

The province aims to turn 1,400ha of unproductive rice fields into different crops this year, according to the department.

Last year, more than 2,300ha of rice fields were turned into vegetables, other crops or for breeding animals.

Farmers have planted more than 33,000ha of vegetables so far this year, up 1,100ha from the same period last year.

The province aims to increase its agriculture production value to VNĐ145 million ($5,700) per hectare a year in 2025, up VNĐ15 million ($600) compared to now. – VNS