The rice growing area of Buon Choah commune, K'rong No district (Dak Nong province) lies at the foot of the dormant Nam Blang volcano.
Coming to Buon Choah today, we couldn't help but be surprised to see that the people's life is no less than that of the well-off countryside in the lowlands. “Look, now people here, from ethnic minorities to Kinh migrants, are very good at technology, applying mechanization in farming, not being as backward as before. Thanks to the ST rice variety, people are getting better. This rice variety grown here has a higher yield than in the plains, reaching 11-12 tons of fresh rice per hectare," said Ho Gam, Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Dak Nong province.
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Buon Choah commune is a low-lying countryside, lying between one side is the K'rong No river (Cha river, one of the two branches of the Serepok river flowing backwards), the other side is the foot of Nam Blang volcano. Due to the "unpleasant" weather in other regions, hot and dry dry season, lack of water, and flooding in the rainy season, the cultivation of agricultural crops also seems to be more difficult.
Mr. Gam said that ST24 and ST25 rice varieties were brought back to grow about ten years ago. After 1-2 crops, the yield is very good, the rice is very fragrant and sweet, so gradually people follow each other to plant. “Buon Choah commune has a total area of more than 700 hectares of wet rice cultivation, with 2 crops, in the past people still cultivated in a traditional, backward, poor variety, so the efficiency was low, life was always difficult. When we switched to growing ST rice to replace the old varieties, everything really changed,” said Mr. Gam.
In 2014, K'rong No district established a cooperative group to produce high-quality ST rice, VietGAP in Buon Choah, which will be upgraded to Buon Choah Agricultural Cooperative by 2020. Up to now, the cooperative has 350 member households, cultivating on an area of more than 500ha of VietGAP rice with the main rice varieties ST24, ST25...
Mr. Trieu Van Truong in Thanh Son village, a member of the Buon Choah Agricultural Cooperative, said that his family has been living on rice cultivation for a long time, but due to poor rice varieties, they do not know how to apply scientific farming processes. methodically, so the productivity is very low, just enough to cover but no surplus. Since planting the ST25 rice variety and joining the Buon Choah cooperative group, his family's economy has gradually improved.
“My family has 2 hectares of rice land, since joining the Cooperative Group and then the cooperative and planting ST rice varieties, applying the process according to the instructions, my rice yield has averaged 11 tons of fresh rice/ha, twice as high as a day. before. This is not the highest yield, some people even reach more than 12 tons/ha. This yield is much higher than that of the Central Highlands provinces, even I find it higher than the yield in the Western granary.
On average, each rice crop after deducting costs, I still have a profit of about 30 million VND per hectare. Thus, each year planting 2 crops, I earn more than one hundred million dong. Really, my family's life has changed completely since joining the cooperative to grow high-quality rice," Truong said, adding that all products are consumed by the cooperative at a price that is always slightly higher than the market.
Mr. Bui Dinh Kien, Director of Buon Choah Agricultural Cooperative said that ST24 and ST25 rice varieties grown in Buon Choah have long, clear, fragrant and sweet rice grains. This quality of rice can be attributed to nutrients from the alluvium of the K'rong No river, and partly to the climate and mineral content from the rocky plateau at the foot of the volcano.
According to Mr. Kien, in order to achieve high efficiency from the model, Buon Choah Cooperative, district and provincial authorities have coordinated with professional agencies to organize many technical training sessions for people in the cooperative. During the cultivation process, professional staff regularly follow the field with the farmers to organize production according to the technique closely.
“Households that do not comply with the process will be invited out of the cooperative, only if they comply with the correct procedure will they be allowed to enter. Buon Choah Agricultural Cooperative is one of the new type of cooperatives that has well promoted the strength of the collective economy. In 2023, the cooperative is expected to add about 150 members,” said Mr. Kien.
In 2021, the rice production area of Buon Choah commune was recognized by the People's Committee of Dak Nong as one of the first three high-tech agricultural production areas of the province. In 2023, Buon Choah Cooperative continued to be honored by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Association as one of 63 typical cooperatives nationwide. Currently, the cooperative has 4 rice mills, processing and distribution agents ST24, ST25.
According to the newspaper: Nongnghiep.vn