How do people in a commune in Nghe An grow herbs, perilla, and Vietnamese balm? They grow them so leisurely that they sell them all as soon as they are pulled out.

In addition to rice as the main crop, in recent years, with stable income from herbs, many farming households in Quynh Van commune, Quynh Luu district, Nghe An province have converted some areas of tomato and mustard green cultivation to grow perilla, Vietnamese balm, dill, basil, and coriander to meet the increasing consumption demand of the market.

For families with little land to grow short-term crops, especially green vegetables, aromatic herbs, mainly perilla, Vietnamese balm, cinnamon, and coriander, are the plants chosen by farmers in Quynh Van commune, Quynh Luu district to grow because of low cost, little care required, but still bring in tens of millions of dong per year even though they only have a few acres of land.

The family of Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhien, hamlet 6, Quynh Van commune is one of the households with the largest area of ​​growing herbs in the commune.

Previously, her family grew many different types of vegetables: such as green cabbage, lettuce, amaranth, Malabar spinach, tomatoes... to earn money to cover living expenses and send their children to school.

In recent years, households in the commune have gradually switched to growing herbs. Seeing the higher efficiency than the other vegetables they were growing, she discussed with her husband about converting 4 sao of land to growing herbs.

Farmers growing various types of herbs (such as coriander, perilla, Vietnamese mint, basil...) in Quynh Van commune, Quynh Luu district, Nghe An province harvest herbs to deliver to traders. Herbs are easy to grow, easy to sell and have lower production costs than other intensive vegetable, fruit and food crop models.

According to Nhien, these vegetables are easy to grow, easy to care for and have few diseases (usually only aphids and green leaf-eating worms). If the soil is prepared carefully and left to dry for about 20 days before planting, the vegetables have very few diseases and do not even need to use pesticides, saving costs and being safe to cultivate.

Perilla and Vietnamese balm have very stable prices, traders buy them at the garden for 2,500 - 3,000 VND/bunch, sometimes up to 5,000 VND/kg. With 4 sao of land, each year after deducting expenses, her family earns 80-100 million VND.

Similarly, with 2 sao of garden land, Ms. Ho Thi Chuyen's family, hamlet 5, Quynh Van commune also chose perilla, mint, and dill to grow.

The reason she chose these spices to grow is because they are easy to care for, require little effort, can be harvested three or four times after planting once, the first harvest is to cut the stem horizontally leaving about 10 cm, continue to fertilize the plant so that it can branch out and harvest the next crop, the harvest cycle is short, each crop is about 30 - 40 days.

According to Ms. Chuyen, Vietnamese balm and perilla can be grown year-round, regardless of the weather. Only during the changing seasons must they be harvested quickly so the plants do not flower, and the price is stable.

Ms. Chuyen added that currently, most households growing herbs invest in automatic watering systems. The cost of installing each sao is about 10 million VND for the system investment such as: water pipes, pumps, irrigation valves, etc.

Most households growing herbs in Quynh Van commune, Quynh Luu district, Nghe An province have invested in automatic watering systems, so the work of taking care of herbs is significantly reduced.

The irrigation system is used for a long time, but the irrigation valves are often broken (about 10 valves are replaced each crop; each valve costs 15,000 VND/piece). Thus, Ms. Chuyen's family earns a profit of 40-50 million VND/year from 2 sao of oregano and perilla.

Ms. Le Thi Thuy - an agricultural officer of Quynh Van commune (Quynh Luu district, Nghe An province) said: Currently, the whole commune has about 20 hectares of herbs for production, of which more than 5 hectares of herbs are certified according to VietGAP standards from 2022.

Although herbs are not as economically advantageous as tomatoes or cabbage, they provide a stable income, are easy to care for, and require little use of pesticides.

In addition, harvesting herbs is also easier than other crops. On average, one sao of perilla and Vietnamese balm is worth 25-30 million VND; one sao of basil is 20-25 million VND. For coriander, a 2-month planting period gives farmers an income of 6-7 million VND/sao.

From the values ​​of these spice crops, currently some households in Quynh Van commune are tending to experiment with growing aromatic vegetables in each field to replace some ineffective vegetables, in order to increase the value per unit area.

Source: https://danviet.vn/trong-rau-thom-rau-tia-to-kinh-gioi-kieu-gi-dan-mot-xa-nghe-an-cham-nhan-he-nho-la-ban-het-veo-20240818140928003.htm