Bien Hoa City: Development of Urban Agriculture

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Hydroponic vegetable farm of Mr. Cao Chu Tuan

 

This tendency is attracting the participation of people in the city, many households are also taking advantage of the space of balconies, terraces... to increase production, creating a new clean and safe form of urban agriculture.

 

New technical updates for community

 

For nearly 3 years now, on weekends, many people in Bien Hoa City and some neighboring provinces often come to Mr. Cao Chu Tuan's hydroponic vegetable farming farm at Quarter 4A, Trang Dai Ward to visit and learn about the model of Israeli hydroponic vegetable cultivation. Mr. Tuan said, currently his farm provides every day from 250-300 kg of vegetables of all kinds. In 3 years of making hi-tech hydroponic vegetables, Mr. Tuan guided 3-4 people to make this model with a smaller area to serve the needs of the family. Currently, Mr. Tuan is researching and producing vegetable juice products, especially the kale, which still retains the flavor of vegetables and juices and easy to use because of the extra milk flavor. Sharing about the plans in the coming time, Mr. Tuan said he would continue to maintain 15 kinds of vegetables, tubers, fruits on the farm to serve the needs of consumers. Besides, Mr. Tuan will produce juice products, soluble powder from vegetables in his garden. These utility products will help people have more opportunities to use clean food, especially for office workers.

 

Mr. Vo Van Chau, Deputy Head of Economic Department of Bien Hoa City said, according to the records of the Economic Department of Bien Hoa City, over the past time, some models of urban agriculture applying high technology and clean agriculture were applied effectively by farmers, suitable to the land area and space of each family. These are new breakthroughs in urban agriculture development in accordance with the conditions of Bien Hoa City, which the city actively cooperates with the Center for Sustainable Agricultural Research and Development to support the people, while encouraging households make use of the gaps to grow clean vegetables, serve family meals with the clean food they create; Encourage people to use water sources and plant protection drugs appropriately and effectively, in order to reduce negative impacts on the environment; increase land use efficiency; At the same time, support people to enhance their knowledge and skills to care for trees to reduce their environmental impact and protect the health of producers.

 Orientation to clean production​

Ms. Dang Thi Kim Phung’s cantaloupe garden with area of 800 m2

Recently, 1.2 hectares of clean vegetables grown in net houses of 6 farmers in Doan Ket Vegetable Production Cooperation Group (Trang Dai Ward) were certified VietGAP standards. This is the result after the time of applying scientific and technical measures guided by agricultural experts. Mr. Tran Trong Binh, a senior farmer who has grown vegetables for over 20 years, was happy to say that, since the start of production towards VietGAP, his 2 sao of vegetables have reduced labor and expenses for plant protection drugs but the yield of vegetables has not decreased, but it is easier to sell because it has a lot of believers use clean vegetables. Mr. Binh himself admits that he no longer has to deal with plant protection drugs, so he feels more secure about his health. Up to now, not only 6 households in the Doan Ket Vegetable Production Cooperation Group follow the VietGAP model, but many vegetable growing households in Trang Dai ward area have also changed to growing clean vegetables, significantly reducing the amount of chemicals in vegetable gardens. 

Interested in farming, in the second half of this year, the family of Ms. Dang Thi Kim Phung (KP.7, Thong Nhat Ward) also invested an 800 m2 net house to grow cantaloupe in an organic way. With the above area, Mrs. Phung planted 1.8 thousand cantaloupe roots, after 3 months of care by organic methods, each cantaloupe to harvest weighing from 1.2 to 1.5 kg, sweetened taste, high quality and sold for VND 80-85,000/kg. Right after the first harvest, Phung's garden helped recover her investment capital for the net house. Ms. Phung said that currently the market provides a lot of tools to help urban farmers can take advantage of the free space in the house to plant trees, while creating more fresh air for public. According to Ms Phung: “Any family can make their own small vegetable garden suitable for each area. Currently on the Internet, there is a lot of information on how to create gardens and grow vegetables in urban areas. Therefore, everyone should take some time to learn to have knowledge about farming before applying to their home space most effectively and appropriately.”

Vi Quan

 

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