Persistent in growing pepper to achieve domestic and international organic certification, seedless Bau May pepper products cost 15 million VND/kg, salted green pepper 900,000 VND/kg…
“Father” of the Bau May pepper variety
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This is a pepper variety that Mr. Lam Ngoc Nham, Director of Bau May Agriculture – Trade – Tourism Cooperative, is the “father” who has experimented, researched, and selected for more than 20 years.
“The Bau May pepper variety has a root system many times larger and stronger than other varieties. Wherever you cut the seed wire, the roots will grow there. Mature pepper distributes sprouts evenly, is drought tolerant, has good disease resistance, and gives very high yields from 10 to 12 tons/ha, stable over the years,” Mr. Lam Ngoc Nham said, adding that the Bau May pepper variety has now registered for trademark protection at the Department of Intellectual Property (Ministry of Science and Technology).
Realizing that Ba Ria – Vung Tau has a good climate and soil to grow pepper trees, but farmers keep planting, cutting, and planting again, with a strong farming process, especially the use of chemicals. Herbicides have impacted the soil, water and environment, so since the establishment of the cooperative, Mr. Lam Ngoc Nham has built an organic farming process to be able to achieve Vietnamese and international organic certification. From there, convince people to follow.
“The “heirloom” organic farming method is actually just based on what our ancestors did before when chemical fertilizers and pesticides were not yet popular, but is actually nothing new,” he said. Nham said smiling.
According to Mr. Nham, organic farming must “say no” to fertilizers and chemical pesticides, combined with the application of scientific and technical advances to improve productivity and efficiency of crop production as investment. Drip irrigation system, drip fertilizer system, composting from garden by-products…
Mr. Nham said that initially when establishing the cooperative, it was not easy to convince people to convert to organic farming instead of traditional farming methods.
When converting to organic farming, productivity will not be as good as before. So many people gave up. To convince people to practice organic farming, Mr. Nham must provide evidence to show them that the land under organic farming becomes more and more fertile; The health of themselves and their families is guaranteed when chemicals are not used in production.
The ant nests are a “protection point” to prevent pests from harming the organically cultivated pepper garden of the Bau May Agriculture – Trade – Tourism Cooperative. Photo: Nguyen Thuy.
“Many people build houses in the garden, but use pesticides and chemical fertilizers. It may not be visible in the immediate future, but over time their family’s health is affected. Upon hearing the analysis, people also changed and gradually converted to organic farming. Farmer households participating in cooperatives have begun to master organic farming methods, so the quality of pepper supplied to the market is guaranteed,” Mr. Nham said.
Balance the ecosystem
To achieve crop productivity, Mr. Lam Ngoc Nham researched and used homemade organic fertilizer from egg embryos combined with milk and crab to fertilize pepper plants. In particular, in the pepper garden, he makes “protection posts” on the trees, allowing beneficial natural enemies to reside, thereby balancing the ecosystem and contributing to controlling pests in the garden.
With more than 30 years of experience in agriculture, Mr. Lam Van Tam (member of Bau May Agriculture – Trade – Service Cooperative) chose pepper as the main crop and began converting to organic farming 6 years ago. This year with an area of 3 hectares.
According to Mr. Tam, in previous years, organic fertilizer prices were high so farmers could not afford to invest. “The difficult brings wisdom”, cooperative members like him make their own fertilizer from composting goat manure and fish nitrogen to fertilize plants. The leaves are not burned but composted at the base. Thanks to that, his garden has good productivity, and the pepper after being harvested is consumed by the cooperative.
Mr. Lam Van Tam (member of Bau May Agriculture – Trade – Service Cooperative) checks pests on pepper trees. Photo: Nguyen Thuy.
Taking us on a tour around the farm, Mr. Nham said that normally, if we only grow pepper, we are wasting the land below. On average, 1 hectare yields about 5 tons of pepper, and if well cared for, it can yield about 8 – 12 tons. Meanwhile, on the same 1 hectare, if pepper is grown intercropped with Hoi Son (grilled tubers), it will yield an additional harvest of 30 – 60 tons of Hoai Son/hectare, and people’s income will increase much. Therefore, the cooperative has been cultivating organic pepper mixed with Hoai Son for many years, creating clean, sustainable agricultural products, ensuring food safety and hygiene, and bringing high profits to farmers.
According to Mr. Nham, intercropping helps create vegetation like a roof for beneficial microorganisms to live in, prevent erosion, and control weeds. Besides, it helps retain moisture and create an underground water source when growing roots at a depth of 60cm to 1.2m. This is considered the best solution to keep pepper plants growing sustainably.
Organic seedless pepper 15 million VND/kg
Thanks to compliance with organic farming standards from the beginning, by 2017, Bau May Agriculture – Trade – Tourism Cooperative was granted GlobalGAP international certification (global good agricultural practice standards) for the region. pepper raw materials, in 2018 achieved ISO 22000:2018 on food safety management system.
“100% of Bau May pepper meets Vietnamese organic standards and international organic standards such as USDA, EU, JAS. In addition, to ensure that domestic and foreign consumers use genuine products, we have also built a traceability management system, exclusive Bau May brand and FDA certification by the Food and Drug Administration. Pharmaceutical issued by the United States,” Mr. Nham informed.
To bring Bau May pepper to the market, Mr. Lam Ngoc Nham also established Bau May Agriculture – Trade – Tourism Joint Stock Company and researched and invested in machinery and processing technology such as inventing his own membrane drying house. Drying pepper completely naturally with sunlight after harvest, bringing the highest nutritional value to the finished pepper.
Since then, Mr. Nham has created many different product lines to increase the value of organic Bau May pepper and organic Hoai Son pepper products such as seedless pepper, milk pepper, one-sun pepper, salted fresh pepper, vermicelli vermicelli. paint… Among them, especially Bau May seedless pepper products cost 15 million VND/kg, salted green pepper 900,000 VND/kg, milk pepper 2.2 million VND/kg, sunny pepper 2 million VND/kg. kg, fresh pepper and salt 950,000 VND/kg.
Currently, Bau May’s organic pepper products have been exported to Japan, Korea, Dubai, the US and continue to promote exports to Russia and China.
Pepper and organic pepper products of Bau May Agriculture – Trade – Service Cooperative. Photo: Nguyen Thuy.
According to Mr. Nham, today’s success is due to his efforts and perseverance as well as the members of the cooperative working together to ensure production meets quality requirements and product consumption for people. farmers in Ba Ria – Vung Tau, Dong Nai, Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Gia Lai, Lam Dong, Binh Phuoc, Thua Thien – Hue, Quang Tri on a total area of 2,500 hectares of Hoai Son and 1,750 hectares of organic Bau May pepper , bringing high economic profits.
According to Mr. Nguyen Phong Vu, Chairman of the Farmers’ Association of Hoa Hiep commune (Xuyen Moc district, Ba Ria – Vung Tau province), the agricultural production area in the commune is mainly perennial crops such as pepper and rubber. , cashew and fruit trees such as avocado, longan, durian. Of which, the pepper growing area in Hoa Hiep commune is about 2,000 hectares.
According to Mr. Vu, the locality is currently encouraging farmers to convert farming to organic, circular, “favorable” economics and develop more organic pepper growing areas. However, people are still worried that it will be difficult to find outlets for organic products, so they are not interested. In the commune, there is currently a prominent Bau May Agriculture – Service – Trade Cooperative farming using organic methods.
According to Nongnghiep.vn
