Son La (VNA) – The northern mountainous province of Son La has emerged as a leadinggrower of fruit in recent years thanks to its well-chosen policy of moving inthe direction of organic farming. 

The ChiengHac cooperative in Yen Chau district is among the pioneers in Son La inshifting to organic cultivation. The cooperative’s members have chosen to focuson clean and safe agricultural practices since the founding more than 10 yearsago. With more than 20 hectares of land under mango, the cooperative is able toexport about 50 tonnes of fruit each year to Australia and China, generating averageincome of 200 million VND (8,575 USD) a year for each member.

Director ofthe cooperative Ha Van Son said members strictly follow rules on recording theentire cultivation process from the origin of saplings, soil conditions, thetype of fertilizers to the procedures in caring for trees and harvesting fruit.

Thecooperative uses only organic fertilizers and herbicides, he said, noting that theircosts in the first years of cultivation would be higher than the costs ofinorganic counterparts, but would then decrease, because the soil wouldgradually become more fertile, raising the productivity and fruit quality overthe years.

Nguyen HuongLong, a member of the Chieng Xuan cooperative in Van Ho district, owns a 7-hamango orchard and three hectares of fish ponds. He said he uses fermented smallfish, maize and soy bean as fertilizer for mango. For insecticide, he usesginger, garlic and chili.

Used to bethe largest maize growing province in the country, Son La has switched to fruittrees and quickly become the second biggest fruit producer with more than71,000 ha of orchards. Son La has developed 73 supply chains of organic fruits,bringing together 78 firms and agricultural cooperatives that produce a totalof 13,000 tonnes of fruit a year.

Director of the province’s Department of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment Nguyen Thanh Cong said in 2020, Son La will allocate more than 6.5billion VND to assist agricultural companies and cooperatives in expandingorganic farming.  

Localauthorities will also take measures to encourage farmers to change theirfarming habits and adopt biological technologies in production.

At the sametime, the province plans to support the development of products of localadvantage and supply chains towards sustainable and safe agriculturalproduction./.