Pepper is a crop that uses a lot of water, but without relying on irrigation projects, Binh Phuoc pepper growers have proactively come up with solutions to cope with El Nino.
Healthy soil, little irrigation from organic farming
In the border district of Bu Gia Map, pepper has long been considered the main crop of people here. As a perennial pepper growing land, with a wealth of production experience, organic pepper farming is considered a sustainable solution to adapt to climate change.
We visited the newly harvested pepper garden of Mr. Nguyen Van Luan, a member of the organic pepper cooperative in Dac O commune. Looking at the lush green pepper pillars, everyone was surprised because this was the time when the pepper plants were “down in health”. best. While some other pepper gardens in the area are bare and have fallen yellow leaves, his pepper garden is still full of life.
The pepper garden of Mr. Nguyen Van Luan, a member of the organic pepper cooperative in Dac O commune, is always full of life. Photo: Tran Trung.
According to Mr. Luan, water is one of the decisive factors in the productivity and quality of pepper. Being a highland commune, the water source in the pepper growing area here sometimes does not meet production needs. In the dry season, the shortage of water for production becomes even more serious. Therefore, in order to survive and develop, after many years of struggling with water shortages, people have changed production methods, in which organic pepper production is considered a fundamental solution.
“In the past, because they wanted to gain big profits, many people were willing to abuse fertilizers, pesticides, and stimulate pepper pressing for productivity. This has unintentionally caused the land to degenerate, while water resources are limited, pepper trees “break out and become violent” quickly. Realizing that, with the motto “slowly but surely”, ten years ago, I was determined to pursue the path of ecological agriculture, organic pepper cultivation to adapt to climate change and now is the time. A place to pick sweet fruits,” Mr. Luan said.
Accordingly, to develop a sustainable garden, in addition to increasing manure fertilization, Mr. Luan takes advantage of locally available agricultural by-products combined with probiotics to create nutritious biological products that help The tree grows strong, not only able to withstand pests but also the lack of water for irrigation. In addition, Mr. Luan also plants grass and retains the tree canopy (living substrate for digestion) to retain moisture and protect beneficial microorganisms in the soil, thereby saving irrigation water and reducing production costs. , increasing economic efficiency.
“Since converting to the organic pepper production program, the yield each year is higher than the previous year, while the amount of investment has gradually decreased. Faced with the fierce El Nino forecast this year, to cope, the family has also increased organic fertilizer application to increase humus, helping to retain moisture in the soil. In addition, pepper trees here are mainly grown. weak on the living substrate, we still keep the tree canopy to shade and protect microorganisms in the soil. Currently, drought has begun, but thanks to the solutions, even though we have not watered for 20 days, the entire garden The pepper still shows no signs of dehydration. If planted using the previous method, it only takes 3 days without watering for the plant to lose strength and the leaves to turn yellow,” Mr. Luan shared.
Proactively irrigate economically
Although it has not yet reached the level of drought, to maintain stable growth for plants, along with organic farming, pepper growers in Binh Phuoc also proactively invest in water-saving mist irrigation systems to ensure The gardens always have enough water. In addition to natural water sources from rivers, streams, and irrigation works, people also invest in large ponds to store water for irrigation during the dry season.
While many other families are struggling to find water sources to irrigate their crops, Mr. Mai Hien Huy, Director of Dak O Organic Pepper Cooperative, just needs to close the circuit breaker and the automatic irrigation system immediately sprays mist and drenches it. water for each pepper tree in your family.
Mr. Mai Hien Huy invested in large ponds to store water for irrigation during the dry season. Photo: Tran Trung.
“With a cost of nearly 3 million VND/1 sao (1,000m2 of land), investing in an automatic drip irrigation system is only expensive initially, but has many benefits. The most obvious things are reducing labor, working time and saving water. If using traditional irrigation, each family watering session requires at least 2 hours of labor and the time to water 1 hectare is from 6 to 8 hours. But with this system, only one person can operate the valves to irrigate the pepper fields, in a much shorter time. In particular, economical irrigation only uses about 1/3 of the amount of water compared to the previous traditional irrigation method, and now all cooperative members have applied it to their gardens,” Mr. Huy shared.
According to Dr. Nguyen Van Bac – Head of Bu Dop District Agricultural Extension Station, scientific irrigation is one of the effective solutions to help crops in general and pepper in particular cope with natural disasters. Besides, from 2020 onwards, people have gradually become aware of the dangers of developing pepper production against natural laws. Along with the development of science and information technology, natural and organic production forms have gradually been accepted by farmers and have initially shown positive signs.
With the automatic irrigation system, only one person can operate the valves to irrigate the pepper fields. Photo: Tran Trung.
It can be affirmed that the application of technical advances in developing organic agriculture and circular economy on pepper with the main solution of controlling inputs and strictly following the production process will reduce costs. production costs, fully promoting the advantages of natural agrochemical soil conditions that are already very suitable for pepper plants to grow. People are increasingly aware that organic production is the solution to creating safe products, improving product value and bringing sustainable income.
Good production habits are gradually formed such as concentrated pepper production by region, making the most of available organic fertilizer sources, and thoroughly applying the principle of “returning to the land” (only taking what we need). really need, the rest must be returned to the land), protect natural enemies, maintain biodiversity and protect natural ecosystems.
Organic farming is quite strict and requires openness, transparency, and high production levels. If people strictly follow the regulations and processes of organic pepper production, it will take 3-5 years to start having products for sale, but in return the pepper garden grows sustainably and the health of the growers is good. Guaranteed, product output is always stable with a value about 25% higher than the market price.
People are increasingly aware that organic production is the solution to creating safe products, improving product value and bringing sustainable income. Photo: Tran Trung.
“In the dry season and severe drought, using water for irrigation economically is essential, so implementing an advanced, water-saving irrigation model can improve productivity and economic efficiency for pepper plants. great significance in production. The model is continuing to be monitored to evaluate its effectiveness,” Dr. Nguyen Van Bac emphasized.
According to Nongnghiep.vn
