Cần Thơ aims to increase incomes for farmers

Farmers irrigate a jackfruit orchard in Định Môn Commune in Cần Thơ City's Thới Lai District. - VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Liêm

The Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta City of Cần Thơ is expanding linkages among stakeholders in agriculture production and is promoting online sales of agricultural products to increase income for farmers.

The City aims to increase its farming area of mostly rice linked to this programme by 2,000 - 3,000ha this year, according to its Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. Mr. Nguyễn Tấn Nhơn, Deputy Director of the Department, said in the 2021 - 2022 winter-spring rice season, the City had more than 16,428ha of rice planted under farm contracts, up 1,200ha from the 2020 - 2021 winter-spring rice season. Rice planted under farm contracts and in large-scale rice fields was purchased at a price of VND50 - 150 a kilogramme higher than the market price, he said. Farmers who participate in large-scale rice fields earn profits of VND2.2 - 2.6 million (US$94 - 110) per hectare a crop higher than traditional farming methods. The City is also encouraging farmers to grow rice to organic standards to protect the environment and meet the requirements of domestic and export markets.

The City's farmers have also increased the cultivation of vegetables and industrial trees in recent years. The City has more than 12,740ha of vegetables and industrial trees, up 327ha from last year. The model of growing vegetables or other industrial crops has offered farmers a higher income than growing only rice, according to the Department.

The City has also expanded fruit growing areas in recent years. It has more than 23,500ha of fruits now compared to 21,000ha last year and harvests more than 160,250 tonnes of fruit a year. The increased area growing fruit has improved the efficiency of agriculture production and income for farmers, according to the Department. The City has developed various concentrated fruit growing areas in Phong Điền, Ô Môn, Thới Lai, Thốt Nốt and Cờ Đỏ Districts. These localities have developed collective brand names for various fruits such as Xoàn king orange and Thới An Ido longan in Ô Môn District and, Tân Thới durian and Trường Xuân A milk apple in Phong Điền District. These brand names have helped increase fruit sales and competitiveness, according to the Department.

Mr. Nguyễn Văn Sử, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the Department was co-operating with farmers to develop brand names for more fruits. "We also plan to expand fruit growing areas by turning unproductive rice fields into fruit growing areas to increase production value," he said.

The City has taken various measures to support farmers to sell their products and linked with companies that produce agricultural products to increase yields, quality and secure, stable prices. To promote online sales for agricultural products, the Department in co-operation with the Cần Thơ City Post Office, has set up e-commerce platform chonongsancantho.vn to sell its agricultural products. It has also co-operated with relevant departments and agencies to provide the skills of selling agricultural products on e-commerce platforms to companies, co-operatives, establishments and households. It has more than 5,000 households selling their agricultural products on e-commerce platforms.

Mr. Nguyễn Tấn Nhơn, Deputy Director of the Department, said the Department aimed to increase the number of local people selling their agricultural products on e-commerce platforms or using digitalisation to trace product origins by 2,000 - 3,000 people this year. The City would implement more policies and projects to support agricultural production, including investing in irrigation work, he said.

Mr. Nguyễn Ngọc Hè, Deputy Chairman of Can Tho City People's Committee, has asked the Department to focus on developing concentrated farming areas for aquaculture, animal husbandry and rice to produce agricultural products on a large scale with consistent quality. The Department should speed up the development of agricultural co-operatives, he said.