Bringing home nutritious "white ginseng" to grow, a farmer in Thai Binh province contributes to enriching the whole village.

Mr. Mai Van Chuy, Co Dung 2 village was the first person to bring cassava from Hai Duong to plant in Dong La commune (Dong Hung, Thai Binh ). The first year, he only planted a few test holes, a year later he harvested, each hole had many large tubers, giving high economic efficiency, so he boldly rented, borrowed more gardens, renovated fields, and converted to grow 1 hectare of cassava.

In recent years, he and his wife have reduced the area of cassava cultivation to 1.5 hectares with about 40 holes. In the remaining area, he specializes in growing seedlings to supply to people in and outside the commune, at the same time investing in cassava flour processing machinery for his family and providing services to people. He and some people established the Dong La Agricultural Products Processing and Trading Cooperative to take advantage of local cassava tubers to process and develop cassava flour to achieve 4-star OCOP products.

Mang loài — Mr. Mai Van Chuy, Dong La commune (Dong Hung district, Thai Binh) collects 1 ton of cassava tubers/sao.

Mr. Chuy shared: Kudzu is an easy-to-grow plant, low investment cost, low care, few pests and diseases. However, because it is a root crop, to have high yield, it must be planted with grafted seedlings on loose, dry soil, built high mounds for planting, 1 sao planted about 10 holes; mix fertilizers into the holes and plant the plants, in August water with phosphate and nitrogen to supplement the plants.

Up to now, Mr. Chuy is still the most experienced person in growing cassava in the commune, so every year his family's cassava harvests high yields and sells for the best price. Usually, he harvests 1 ton of tubers per sao, processing 200 kg of cassava flour. Not only is the harvest good, this year the price is also good, this cassava crop his family earns 200 million VND in profit. Every year, he also supplies 10,000 cassava seedlings to people in and outside the commune, and at the same time provides services to process dozens of tons of cassava into cassava flour.

Dong La Agricultural Processing and Trading Cooperative, of which he is Deputy Director, will purchase more than 10 tons of cassava tubers in 2023 to process into cassava flour to supply markets in and outside the province. This year, it is expected to purchase more fresh cassava tubers for people to process into flour that meets 4-star OCOP standards.

Arrowroot contains many nutrients, adding arrowroot powder will bring great benefits to human health. The demand for arrowroot powder is increasing, the income from growing arrowroot is higher than some other crops, so the number of households in Dong La commune learning from Mr. Chuy to grow arrowroot is increasing. This year, arrowroot has a high yield, 1 sao yields about 1 ton of tubers, sold for 18 - 20 million VND, depending on the type; if processed into powder, the value increases to 40 million VND.

Mr. Pham Van Gac, Co Dung 2 village said: My family planted 11 cassava holes since the beginning of 2023, and is now harvesting. This cassava crop has a yield double that of last year. If last year we only harvested 40 - 50 kg/hole, this year it will reach 70 kg to 1 quintal. The selling price of tubers is about 2,000 - 3,000 VND/kg higher, the selling price of cassava flour is 200,000 VND/kg, 20,000 VND/kg higher than last year. All the fresh tubers harvested are processed into flour by my family, which can be stored for a long time and sold when the price is good.

In 2023, Ms. Le Thi Hang, Co Dung 2 village planted 11 cassava holes. After nearly a year of hard work cultivating and fertilizing, it is now time to harvest.

Ms. Hang said: Last year, the weather was favorable so the cassava yield was high, the growers were all excited. There were cassava holes when the thin layer of soil was removed, the whole tubers emerged, each root yielded up to 100 tubers, something that not every harvest can achieve.

Since the establishment of Dong La Agricultural Processing and Trading Cooperative, the consumption of cassava tubers has been much more convenient for the people, the selling price is also higher than the market price, the income of the people has also increased, often 4-5 times higher than growing rice. We are confident in expanding the cassava growing area.

Ms. Mai Thi Thuy, Deputy Director of Dong La Commune Agricultural Service Cooperative, said: Having taken root in Dong La land for more than 20 years, cassava has become a strong crop, a source of wealth for many households here.

Up to now, the commune has over 200 households growing cassava with about 20 hectares, many households grow up to several acres, concentrated in Co Dung 2 village. Due to suitable soil conditions, and being planted and fertilized by people with techniques and experience gained over many years, cassava produces many tubers, with a delicious and characteristic quality, known to many people.

Every year, the Cooperative organizes training and technical guidance on grafting seedlings, planting and caring for cassava; provides quality nitrogen fertilizer to people; encourages households to renovate mixed gardens, and convert ineffective rice growing areas to cassava growing.

Mobilize households, especially Dong La Agricultural Products Processing and Trading Cooperative, to promote cassava flour processing to increase value, quality, and standards, striving to upgrade the cooperative's cassava flour products to 5-star OCOP products.

Changing the mindset of agricultural production to the mindset of agricultural economics , farmers in Dong La commune have successfully built a brand of tapioca starch and become rich from this familiar, rustic local agricultural product.

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