Phan Hiếu

NINH BÌNH — Local farmers in the northern province of Ninh Bình’s Ninh Bình City have earned a better living by applying hi-tech farming practices.

Vũ Văn Bảng, of Ninh Phúc Commune’s Đoài Thượng Village in the province, has changed his life by applying technology in growing flowers over the last couple of years.

Bảng said he used to plant a lot of vegetables to earn a living, but the income was not enough to cover his family’s expenses.

He decided to try another method, planting flowers instead of vegetables.

However, everything is hard before it is easy.

His income was largely unchanged after planting daisies, roses and gladiolus flowers in his garden.

Bảng spent many nights to thinking about the problem. He even came to localities that were very successful in growing flowers to learn from the farmers’ experiences.

Then he discovered that the method he used to plant his flowers was outdated.

“It needed to be changed to catch up with current trends,” he said.

When he returned to his hometown in 2016, Bảng decided to apply a hi-tech farming model.

He built solid grid, bought weed control fabric and starting running an automatic irrigation system on his 1.800sq.m garden.

Bảng earned VNĐ480 million ($20,700) in 2016 and VNĐ570 million ($24,600) in 2017.

He plans to triple the area of his garden in the time to come.

Bảng is not the only success story.

Phạm Văn Hưng of the commune’s Ninh Sơn Ward tripled his income within one year after building an automatic irrigation system in his turmeric field.

He brought in VNĐ270 million ($11,600) last year from cultivating herbs and old and antique roses.

Hưng also used the automatic irrigation system in his garden. The system helped him save water and cut down on labourers, who had been tasked with watering the flowers every day.

The commune’s Ninh Phúc Garden Co-operative has also built an automatic irrigation system.

Data from the co-operative showed that using the irrigation system had led to a 60 per cent reduction in its total water usage.

The improvement of residents’ income is also thanks to the local authorities’s encouragement.

The city administration issued a policy to encourage individuals and organisations to apply science and technology in production.

First, local growers would receive a water fee discount and exemption. In Việt Nam, irrigation systems in fields were built by local authorities with funds from the State budget. Farmers had to pay a fee to use the irrigation system each year.

Second, local growers were given free training courses to update their skills and knowledge of hi-tech farming models.

Furthermore, last year the city built four hi-tech farming models for vegetables and flowers, covering a total area of over 2,500sq.m, so that local growers could learn how to apply the models in their own gardens.

This support has made the city a bright spot in the province’s cultivation sector. — VNS