Profit from growing grass

Stories about farmers who grow grass

Two years ago, a farmer in Long Thanh district was so bold as to use two hectares of rice-field to grow grass. It’s Mr. Ong Van Lam who lives in 1^st hamlet, Tam An Commune. And now, his home is a favourite place for many people to come. It is in the middle of meadow. At present, fields are colored with yellow color of rice which are going to be harvested soon and in some places are green color of grass. These are not wild grass. They are planted grass meadows. Talking with him, we know that he is the first to grow grass in Tam An. At first, many peoples laughed at him and said he did peculiar things. But it’s his peculiar things which earn him great incomes. “My home is close to Dong Nai river. Therefore, agricultural productions depend upon tide. I just grow 2 rice crops a year. The main crop is in spring-winter and fields are covered with weeds in second crop because fields are flooded”, he confides to us.

He has decided to grow grass since the grass market in Ben Bau of Tam An commune has flourished by the end of 2002. Each kilogram of grass is priced 300 VND. After calculating, he realizes that growing grass will triple the profits in comparision to growing rice. A special kind of grass which local people call water grass grows everywhere in Tam An and is great favourite of cattle. It grows quickly and can bear flood condition in flooding season (in August, September, October of Lunar calendar). He asks provincial agriculture incentive center to send this grass to Ho Chi Minh City for analysis because he wants to know whether it’s possible to grow it for industrial breeding or not. The analysis show that although some nutriments are not good as Sa grass and Voi grass, which grow on mountain fields, it can be used for breeding. Its scientific name is Bac grass. So, he decides to gradually change his rice fields into grass fields. Up to now, two hectares of his land is covered with grass. Each year, he harvests 300 ton of grass on average. Realizing the economic effect of Mr. Lam’s grass meadow, some farmers such as Mr. Nguyen Van Sau, Mr. Ngo Minh Sang , Mr. Nguyen Van Si …etc is changing their rice-fields into grass fields.

Is it feasible to expand grass meadow?

According to Tam An farmers’ calculations, they earn five millions per hectare of rice in a crop.  So, they will have a profit of 10 millions per hectare in a year with two crops. But with one hectare of grass they will have over 30 millions. Mr. Lam reveals that dairy farmers in Tam Phuoc commune of Long Thanh District have bought his grass with price of 500VND per kilogram. Xuan Loc Co-operative in 12^st District of Ho Chi Minh city wants to contract with farmers but nobody can sign contracts with them because they are afraid of not having enough grass to supply to co-operative. In the high time of 2004 rainny season, the price of grass increases up to 1000 VND/kg in Ben Bau market. “grass is more expensive than field cabbage”, say in an ironical voice local people.

Exchanging with Mr. Nguyen Van Dua, head of Tam An agriculture incentive station, we know that riverside hamlets with low rice yield should have plan for changing growing grass into professional model as to sale grass easier. According to Mr. Dua, farmers should combine growing grass with breeding castle, especially herbivores, as to have muck to fertilize grass. Mr. Nguyen Van Duc, deputy chief of agriculture and rural development Service of Long Thanh Distric, tells us about the transferment that: “As for some communes along Dong Nai river such as Tam Phuoc, Tam Hoa, Tam An, Phuoc Tan…etc in which fields is flooded, the People’s Committee of district has encouraged farmers to change plants as to get more profits. Although it has no incentive policy on growing grass, it still encourages farmers who can consume grass and breed castle to replace rice fields with grass fields.”

According to professional calculations, a buffalo and cow need a ton of grass a month. There are now 13.000 buffaloes and cows and 4.000 sheeps, rabbits and goats in province. Number of castles are increasing rapidly. Many industrial zones are built and land are used to grow  perennials. This leads to the shortage of grass in dry season. This is good condition to develop growing grass industry. However, there must have clear plans to expand the area of grass meadows as to avoid supply and demand problem.

                                                     According to Dong Nai Newspaper.