Dong Nai Agriculture Extension: science and technology to be applied in agricultural production

Tan Trieu Grapefruits

Due to these facts, Provincial Agriculture Extension Center has functioned as a joint entity to bring technological advance to farmers and guide them to actively change the structure of plant and animal breeds. In order to provide farmers with favorable conditions to best apply technological progresses in production and elevate the income value on every piece of land, agriculture extension committee’s workers have played a vital role in actively associating with local authority and departments to boost up the promulgation for inspiring inhabitants to grow efficient and high-quality rice breeds. Furthermore, it is also necessary to transform infertile lands for cultivating other more suitable plants.         

MSc Huynh Thanh Vinh – Director of Agriculture Extension Center assumed, one of the weaknesses at current fruit orchards throughout the province is lack of the emphasis on the proper arrangement, which leads to many difficulties in applying high technology during cultivation process. To improve these limits, Agriculture Extension Center has designed many of new cultivation models and recommended cultivators to pay particular attention on arranging their orchards to make most use of existing natural resources, minimize plant diseases and pests, and to facilitate the application of high technology in plant cultivation, care and harvest.     

Durians grown at Long Thanh district

Meanwhile, agriculture extension workers recommended that cultivators should enhance the utilization of those new plant seeds with high efficiency, high quality and biological fitness to each specific area, for example Tan Trieu region (Vinh Cuu District) suited for growing grapefruit, Xuan Loc and Long Khanh for growing rambutan, durian,… Particularly in 2007-2008, the Center succeeded in holding the contest of choice fruits and breeds for grapefruit, durian and custard apple. Over the contest, the Center has found out certain well-grown plants for the breeding process for later cultivation on a large scale. 

Pesticide-free vegetable grown in the net house at Trang Dai ward, Bien Hoa

For effective production and through technical training courses, agriculture extension coordinators guided peasants to grow plant seeds with high productivity and quality such as coffee (TR4, TR5, TR6 breeds), pepper (Vinh Linh, India), durian (DONA, Ri6),… Especially, for those areas using old breeds with low productivity, the Center will, at hand, concentrate on such methods as the intensive cultivation and productivity enhancement for the purpose of improving cultivation efficiency, and gradually change to better breeds by applying the rapid method of breed modification. Such techniques as intensive cultivation, water-saving irrigation system, hose fertilizing system, blossoming treatment for successive crops, are also applied widely. Statistically, the water-saving irrigation system can help to save watering effort (90-95%), increase water utilization and economy (35-40%), fuel saving (20%), restrict blossom and young fruit fall, release labor effort, and actively control watering time to boost up productivity (10-15%). Economical watering and hose fertilizing, along with intensive cultivation techniques are important to make plants blossom at wrong season in an effective and sustainable way. Results produced by applying agriculture extension models indicated that the productivity was raised to 70% for rambutan, 250% for mango, 50% for custard apple, 30% for durian, 20% for grapefruit. As for pepper, the average productivity in the past was 1.84 tons/ha and gains 7-8 tons/ha in the present; particularly, there was one model achieving peak production of 10 tons/ha.  

To achieve such results, in 2008, Provincial Agriculture Extension Center built 127 agriculture extension models for households, organized 129 training classes, 33 workshops and 50 field observations, published 30.000 relevant printouts.

Observing pepper cultivation model throughout the province

MSc Huynh Thanh Vinh assumed, although the efficiency of applying agriculture extension is very enormous, up to now there remains the big restriction of the agriculture extension at those households who lead a hard life and can not afford to approach agriculture extension programs by virtue of financial failure in putting investment in the model. Also, the agriculture extension models only focus on raising cultivation productivity and product quality but not pay much attention on post-harvest technology. Cultivation in uniformity with GAP standard is now stopping at information dissemination, training but not manage to build up model. The multiplication of these proven models is facing with many difficulties.     

In general, the agriculture extension last year gained many significant results. Thanks to the practical supports from agriculture extension workers at the provincial and district levels, our inhabitants are efficiently taking advantage of land and labor potentials in modifying economic structure towards commodity production. This generates many key motivations to more and more improve material and mental lives for people.  

 Reported by Truc Linh, Translated by T&V