A fruit orchard that was formerly an unproductive rice field in Tien Giang province’s Cho Gao district. (Photo: VNA)TienGiang (VNS/VNA) - The Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang plans toturn 7,700ha of unproductive rice fields into high-value crops toadapt to climate change and natural disasters in the 2020-2025 period.
Theprovince, which is the country’s largest fruit producer, will convert nearly5,000ha of unproductive rice fields to fruit cultivation, mostly in areasbetween National Highway No. 1 and Trung Luong-My Thuan expressway,according to the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Agriculture.
About700ha will shift to vegetables in areas that have traditionally cultivatedvegetables, mostly in Chau Thanh district.
Inaddition, farmers on about 1,300ha will rotate growing rice in therainy season and vegetables in the dry season on the same fields in Cai Be andCai Lay districts and Cai Lay town.
Around700ha of rice will be turned into aquaculture areas in Cai Lay district and CayLay town.
Localitieswill help farmers choose the most suitable crops to grow in their fields,and to improve productivity, agriculture extension activities as wellas provision of advanced techniques will be offered to farmers.
Theproduction of crop seeds and seedlings will also be inspected to ensure quality.
NguyenVan Man, director of the department, said the province would focus onissues such as market information, agricultural product consumption, tradepromotion, and origin traceability to develop sustainable production.
Theprovince will boost linkages among farmers, scientists, companies andlocal authorities in agriculture to improve efficiency.
Itwill also expand agricultural co-operative models that haveoperated effectively, he said.
Theprovince has 80 linkage models among farmers and companies for producingand consuming agricultural products on a total area of 13,000ha.
The80 models produce a total of 121,800 tonnes of agricultural products worth 607billion VND (26.2 million USD) a year.
Theprovince is also seeking investors in agricultural production andrural area development.
TienGiang, which was heavily hit by saltwater intrusion in the dryseason, has converted more than 13,700ha of rice to other high-value cropsthis year.
Theprofit from growing high-value fruits like durian, jackfruit, mango andgreen-skin and pink-flesh grapefruit is 9-12 times higher than that of rice.
TranVan Toan, who has shifted his 2ha rice fields to dragon fruit inGo Cong Dong district’s Kieng Phuoc commune, said his family had producedthree rice crops a year, but did not have a high income.
“Drought,saltwater intrusion and climate change became more severe and causeddamage in recent years and local authorities encouraged rice farmers toswitch to other crops,” he said.
Underthe encouragement of local authorities, he switched to dragon fruit. Henow earns a profit of 500 million VND (21,600 USD) a year, he said.
Theprovince has more than 82,000ha of fruits and 57,000ha of vegetables. It has179,843ha of farmland, accounting for 71.6 per cent of its total area.
Saltwater prevention
Saltwaterintrusion in the 2020-2021 dry season is expected to arrive earlier thisyear, affecting the 2020-21 winter-spring crop, the summer-autumn crop, and fruitorchards in the western area of Tien Giang, according to the provincialPeople’s Committee.
Localdepartments, agencies and localities plan to upgrade saltwater-preventionworks, transport fresh water and store fresh water for agriculturalproduction and household use.
Farmerswill also receive guidance in how to store fresh water and use fresh waterefficiently.
Inrecent years, saltwater intrusion and drought caused damage toagriculture in the dry season, especially fruit cultivation. Asa result, farmers changed the growing schedules of rice and othershort-term crops, or stopped growing them in certain periods.
Toprotect perennial fruits from natural disasters, they have stored freshwater and built saltwater-prevention dams.
Man,director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said theprovince has upgraded saltwater-prevention dams and sluices, and built newones in major agricultural production areas.
InCai Lay district, the islet communes of Tan Phong and Ngu Hiep grow specialty fruitslike durian and rambutan for domestic consumption and export.
Thetwo communes have more than 2,600ha of fruits. In the last dry season,many fruit orchards on the two communes died or were severelyaffected by saltwater intrusion.
Forthe 2020-2021 season, the province has spent 55.3 billion VND (2.38million USD) to build eight temporary saltwater-prevention damson Ngu Hiep and 20 temporary saltwater-prevention dams on Tan Phong.
Thedepartment, in co-operation with the two communes, plans to collect andstore fresh water in the dry 2020-2021 season to protect agriculturalproduction and the lives of local people./.
VNA
