Tu Ky Town Agricultural Service Cooperative clears abandoned fields

The once fertile rice fields are now abandoned, with no one to cultivate them, and weeds are growing more and more in Tu Ky town. Farmers are no longer interested in their fields.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong in An Nhan Tay area, Tu Ky town, her family was previously allocated 4 sao of rice fields, because it was a low-lying area, so they only grew rice. All year round, they "worked their faces on the ground and their backs on the sky" but the income from rice was not much. So she and her husband decided to leave their fields and gardens to work in the city. "Although living conditions in the city are not as good as in the countryside, we still have money coming in and going out, and money saved to raise our children to study," Ms. Hong said.

Mr. Do Van Do, Director of Tu Ky Town Agricultural Service Cooperative, said that the town currently has more than 200 hectares of agricultural land. Previously, production costs were too high, pests and rats damaged the land, the fields were low and flooded, and there was a lack of labor, so the income from rice cultivation was low. Some households were not interested in farming, so they went to work as laborers or did other jobs. In 2023, because they regretted the abandoned "rice fields and honey fields", the cooperative proposed to the local government to renovate the abandoned fields for cultivation. "Members of the cooperative's Board of Directors met and persuaded each household with abandoned fields to rent them out so that the cooperative could renovate and cultivate rice," said Mr. Do.

When first implemented, there were many difficulties because many households, although not having the need to produce, had the mindset of keeping the fields, not wanting to rent or lend them, making the fields even more fallow. After a period of persistent advocacy, in the 2024 spring-summer crop, Tu Ky Town Agricultural Service Cooperative was able to rent 10 hectares in Dong Trong area, An Nhan Dong area to renovate and plant Q5 and ST25 rice varieties.

In the first year, the people did not pay any fees, starting from the second year, the cooperative will pay the people 250,000 VND/sao of rice fields. Currently, these rice fields have been harvested, with an estimated yield of 1.7-2 quintals/sao. The abandoned fields covered with weeds, which were a haven for rats and pests in the Dong Trong area in the past, are now rice fields with good harvests.

Realizing that this method has been effective and can be replicated, Tu Ky Town Agricultural Service Cooperative continues to coordinate propaganda and mobilize people in An Nhan Dong and La Tinh areas to agree to let the cooperative renovate 5 more hectares of abandoned fields in Trai Ca area and 15 hectares in Dong Tao area for cultivation.

Currently, the cooperative has hired excavators to clear and build embankments in the area and plots to regulate water for production; demolish mounds and high mounds to limit the shelter of rats. The cooperative also hired 2 large-cage machines to improve the land, level the ground; kill weeds and till the land. By the 2024 crop planting schedule, the Agricultural Service Cooperative will plant TBR 225 and Thien Uu 8 rice varieties.

"In order for the model of reclaiming abandoned fields to continue to be replicated, we hope that the People's Committee of Tu Ky district will soon implement financial support for collectives and individuals who accumulate land of 5 hectares or more for cooperatives to reclaim, restore and restore," said Mr. Do Van Do.

The solution to eliminate fallow fields of the Tu Ky Town Agricultural Service Cooperative not only contributes to covering the agricultural production land area but also forms a concentrated commodity production model that is many times more effective than fragmented, small-scale production. This is also a method that needs to be replicated.