Giang A Day, a youth from Sơn La province, plans to team up with a number of households in the village to establish a co-operative specialising in planting organic vegetables and fruit in the near future. (Photo langvietonline.vn) Son La (VNS/VNA)- A young man from the northern mountainous province of Son La hastravelled to Israel to learn modern farming techniques and apply them to hishomeland.
When he saw local residents destroyed forest to reclaim land for cultivation,24-year-old Giang A Day became very upset.
“I always wondered how to change the way they did on farming and how tocultivate in areas short of water,” he said.
In September 2015, Day was a final-year student at Tay Bac University when heheard about a training programme in Israel. He immediately decided to apply forit.
He had even persuaded his parents to borrow 30 million VND (1,320 USD) fromtheir relatives to buy an air ticket.
“I admired Israel for its creativity when I was at high school. Although it’s asmall country with about eight million people, Israel is known as a leadingstartup country in hi-tech agriculture,” he said.
“The water shortage in my village is another matter, making it impossible forvillagers to raise plants in the dry season. As a result, local residents haveto rely on corn,” he added.
Day said he found out that he made the right decision when he arrived inIsrael.
"In fact, 11 months of hard work in a foreign country has totally changedmy thinking about agricultural production," he said.
Day started working at a nursery for Israel’s third largest seed company assoon as he arrived. He became involved in all processes from seed preservationand nursing to taking care of seedlings.
He saw that the Israelis had to remove rock and filled the gap with a 30-40cmlayer of sand or buy soil from other places in order to plant crops.
It was there, he found out that water overflow or waste water did not occur inthis country. People used drip irrigation technique to save water.
With strong desire to learn, Day asked a farm owner to let him use a 100sq.m ofland for experiment.
He applied the knowledge he earned on the garden, including ideas he thoughtwould fit conditions in his homeland.
“The plot of land helps me understand more about organic farming, cultivatingwithout the use of fertiliser. All the difficulties I faced were solved withthe support of Israeli experts. The lessons were really precious,” Day toldthe Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper.
Returning to Vietnam in August last year, he did not go home immediately butspent a week in Hanoi to explore market consumption of clean vegetables and getin touch with a number of vegetable suppliers.
Back home, with 100 million VND (4,400 USD) accumulated during his time abroad,Day paid back the debt and bought a pumping machine. He also invested insetting up a water pipeline connecting his garden with the local stream and adrip irrigation system.
His efforts have been paid off in just four months. Day’s vegetables grow verywell, even in the dry season.
His action suprised villagers as they couldn’t grow any vegetable from Novemberto February for years.
The fact that Day posts seedlings on Facebook and uses motorbike to transportthem was unprecedented in the locality.
Many Mong people came to Day’s house to learn about his techniques and he, ofcourse, was willing to share his experience.
“Once dripping irrigation was applied, local residents can cultivate up tothree crops a year instead of one crop currently,” he told the villagers.
In addition, they can plant grass on barren hills to feed buffaloes and cows.
He also persuaded local residents to focus on tending vegetables and animalhusbandry without the use of chemical substances.
Now, his dream of building a nursery farm and growing organic vegetables in hisown garden has been realised. His vegetables are on sale at a number ofvegetable shops in Son La city and supplied to a food company in HCM City.
Day said that with the price of 3,000 VND (0.12 USD) per one kilo andproductivity of 25 tonnes per crop, he could earn over 200 million VND (8,800USD) from cultivating 1.5ha of pumpkins.
However, he admitted that he still faced a lot of challenges.
As vegetables are organic cultivated, in order to prevent pest and diseases,Day does not use pesticides or plant protection products but a mixture ofgarlic, ginger, chilli and white wine to spray the plants. This mixture helpsprevent pests and is not harmful to people’s health.
According to him, the price of seeds and seedlings raised by him is higher thanpopular ones on the market. Therefore, it has not been easy to encourage localresidents to use them.
As the head of the village’s youth union, Day convinced youth members to applydrip irrigation on their gardens. He believed that the success of youth memberswould be an effective way to inspire local residents.
"The application of scientific and technical progress, drip irrigationtechnology, net houses and agricultural production on the hills of Giang A Dayis a bold start-up model," said Vang A La, Secretary of the provincial YouthUnion
His economic model has changed the farming methods of young people frommountainous regions and provided an opportunity for farmers to access newscientific and technological advances.
Day said in the future he plans to team up with a number of households in thevillage to establish a cooperative specialising in planting organic vegetablesand fruits.-VNA
When he saw local residents destroyed forest to reclaim land for cultivation,24-year-old Giang A Day became very upset.
“I always wondered how to change the way they did on farming and how tocultivate in areas short of water,” he said.
In September 2015, Day was a final-year student at Tay Bac University when heheard about a training programme in Israel. He immediately decided to apply forit.
He had even persuaded his parents to borrow 30 million VND (1,320 USD) fromtheir relatives to buy an air ticket.
“I admired Israel for its creativity when I was at high school. Although it’s asmall country with about eight million people, Israel is known as a leadingstartup country in hi-tech agriculture,” he said.
“The water shortage in my village is another matter, making it impossible forvillagers to raise plants in the dry season. As a result, local residents haveto rely on corn,” he added.
Day said he found out that he made the right decision when he arrived inIsrael.
"In fact, 11 months of hard work in a foreign country has totally changedmy thinking about agricultural production," he said.
Day started working at a nursery for Israel’s third largest seed company assoon as he arrived. He became involved in all processes from seed preservationand nursing to taking care of seedlings.
He saw that the Israelis had to remove rock and filled the gap with a 30-40cmlayer of sand or buy soil from other places in order to plant crops.
It was there, he found out that water overflow or waste water did not occur inthis country. People used drip irrigation technique to save water.
With strong desire to learn, Day asked a farm owner to let him use a 100sq.m ofland for experiment.
He applied the knowledge he earned on the garden, including ideas he thoughtwould fit conditions in his homeland.
“The plot of land helps me understand more about organic farming, cultivatingwithout the use of fertiliser. All the difficulties I faced were solved withthe support of Israeli experts. The lessons were really precious,” Day toldthe Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper.
Returning to Vietnam in August last year, he did not go home immediately butspent a week in Hanoi to explore market consumption of clean vegetables and getin touch with a number of vegetable suppliers.
Back home, with 100 million VND (4,400 USD) accumulated during his time abroad,Day paid back the debt and bought a pumping machine. He also invested insetting up a water pipeline connecting his garden with the local stream and adrip irrigation system.
His efforts have been paid off in just four months. Day’s vegetables grow verywell, even in the dry season.
His action suprised villagers as they couldn’t grow any vegetable from Novemberto February for years.
The fact that Day posts seedlings on Facebook and uses motorbike to transportthem was unprecedented in the locality.
Many Mong people came to Day’s house to learn about his techniques and he, ofcourse, was willing to share his experience.
“Once dripping irrigation was applied, local residents can cultivate up tothree crops a year instead of one crop currently,” he told the villagers.
In addition, they can plant grass on barren hills to feed buffaloes and cows.
He also persuaded local residents to focus on tending vegetables and animalhusbandry without the use of chemical substances.
Now, his dream of building a nursery farm and growing organic vegetables in hisown garden has been realised. His vegetables are on sale at a number ofvegetable shops in Son La city and supplied to a food company in HCM City.
Day said that with the price of 3,000 VND (0.12 USD) per one kilo andproductivity of 25 tonnes per crop, he could earn over 200 million VND (8,800USD) from cultivating 1.5ha of pumpkins.
However, he admitted that he still faced a lot of challenges.
As vegetables are organic cultivated, in order to prevent pest and diseases,Day does not use pesticides or plant protection products but a mixture ofgarlic, ginger, chilli and white wine to spray the plants. This mixture helpsprevent pests and is not harmful to people’s health.
According to him, the price of seeds and seedlings raised by him is higher thanpopular ones on the market. Therefore, it has not been easy to encourage localresidents to use them.
As the head of the village’s youth union, Day convinced youth members to applydrip irrigation on their gardens. He believed that the success of youth memberswould be an effective way to inspire local residents.
"The application of scientific and technical progress, drip irrigationtechnology, net houses and agricultural production on the hills of Giang A Dayis a bold start-up model," said Vang A La, Secretary of the provincial YouthUnion
His economic model has changed the farming methods of young people frommountainous regions and provided an opportunity for farmers to access newscientific and technological advances.
Day said in the future he plans to team up with a number of households in thevillage to establish a cooperative specialising in planting organic vegetablesand fruits.-VNA
VNA
