Farmers grow asparagus in Ninh Thuận Province’s Ninh Phước District. — VNA/VNS Photo Công Thử

NINH THUẬN — The south-central province of Ninh Thuận has developed a number of agricultural production models for co-operatives and companies that improve the value of produce and guarantee outlets.

In Ninh Phước District’s An Hải Commune, a tie-up between the Tuấn Tú General Agricultural Service Co-operative and the Linh Đan Company Limited has helped the former’s 60 members expand asparagus cultivation and earn high incomes.

With a guaranteed outlet offered by the company, they have expanded their farms from a few hectares to nearly 50ha now.

They harvest more than 500 kilogrammes of asparagus a day and sell them to the company at a fixed VNĐ50,000 (US$2.1) per kilogramme.

They earn VNĐ400-500 million ($1,700-21,000) per hectare a year.

An Hải has dry sandy soil and it costs around VNĐ50 million ($2,100) to farm 1,000sq.m of asparagus.

Hùng Ky, director of the co-operative, said previously farmers in the commune’s Tuấn Tú Hamlet used to worry about outlets for asparagus.

To mitigate the problem, the hamlet set up the Tuấn Tú General Agricultural Service Co-operative to tie up with Linh Đan for developing the crop, he said.

The province’s many agricultural co-operatives had also signed contracts with companies to grow rice under the large-scale fields models. 

The Phước Hậu Agricultural Service and Trade Co-operative in Ninh Phước District, for instance, had signed contracts with two companies to grow rice on 150ha.

According to Ky the companies supply rice seeds and teach the co-operative’s members farming techniques. The members only pay for the seeds when they sell their harvest to the companies.

The companies buy the farmers’ rice at VNĐ400-500 per kilogramme higher than market prices.

This model of co-operation between co-operatives and companies has helped create specialised growing areas for many different products, enabled mechanisation and reduced post-harvest losses, according to the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

It has also caused farmers to switch from small to large scale of production and adopt advanced farming techniques, thus improving their incomes.

Trần Quốc Nam, deputy chairman of the province People’s Committee, said the People’s Committee was asking the People’s Council to issue a resolution on encouraging companies to invest in agriculture and rural areas and to link up with co-operatives, co-operative groups and farmers to develop value chains in agriculture.

The province is the country’s largest producer of several agricultural products including grape, jujube, goat, sheep, and shrimp fry.

The driest province in the country is also well known for other agricultural products such as asparagus, garlic and aloe vera.  VNS