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Reviving disease-infected cassava areas

In the border commune of Tan Hoi (Tay Ninh province), Duong Thanh Phuong, former Head of the Tan Chau District Agricultural Extension Station under the Tay Ninh Agricultural Extension Center, is a familiar officer to local farmers. With more than 20 years of working at the grassroots level, the agricultural extension officer, born in 1984 in An Giang province, has spent far more time in the fields than in the office.

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To Phuong, agricultural extension is not merely about transferring techniques or organizing training courses. More importantly, it is about accompanying farmers to find solutions for the challenges they face in their fields and livestock farms. Every model must be driven by farmers' practical needs, address production bottlenecks, and have the potential for wider replication.

For many consecutive years, he has fulfilled 100% of his assigned targets and tasks while directly developing and implementing dozens of agricultural extension models; transferring technical advances; organizing training courses, field workshops, and study tours; and disseminating agricultural development policies to farming communities.

The programs he develops have consistently aimed at reducing production costs, improving productivity, promoting the use of safe agricultural materials, protecting the environment, and enhancing land-use efficiency. These efforts have also laid the foundation for many farmer households to confidently transform their production methods, gradually moving toward a modern and sustainable agriculture.

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Among Phuong's most notable achievements, the project to restore cassava material areas stands out as a major milestone.

Tan Chau is one of Tay Ninh's key cassava-growing regions, supplying raw materials to numerous starch processing plants. However, during the 2020-2022 period, a severe outbreak of cassava mosaic disease affected thousands of hectares. Yields on many farms declined dramatically, with some suffering complete crop losses, leaving cassava growers in financial difficulty. In response, Phuong proposed the implementation of the project "Developing a Cassava Production Model Using Disease-Free Varieties, Intensive Cultivation, and Integrated Management of Cassava Mosaic Disease Caused by Viruses."

Not only supplying new disease-free varieties, but the project also focused on transforming farmers' entire production processes. Hundreds of farmer households received training on disease identification, selecting disease-free stem cuttings, adopting intensive cultivation techniques, and implementing Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Particularly, training courses focused on measures to control the whitefly, the insect vector that transmits the viruses causing cassava mosaic disease. This measure was regarded as the key to preventing the disease from spreading further.

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More importantly, the project brought about a shift in farmers' mindset. Whereas many households had previously saved stem cuttings from disease-infected fields for replanting, they now proactively use disease-free seedlings and destroy infected plants to eliminate sources of infection.

At the same time, Phuong collaborated with the Hung Loc Agricultural Research Center to evaluate seven cassava varieties resistant to mosaic disease. He also worked with the Agricultural Genetics Institute and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) to assess a set of ten new cassava varieties. Based on trial results, six varieties, including HN1, HN3, HN5, HN36, HN80, and HN97, were selected for their good disease resistance, high yields, and superior starch content.

Another notable achievement was the establishment of four greenhouses for the rapid multiplication of disease-free cassava varieties. Starting from a very limited supply of seedlings, the project was able to produce enough disease-free seedlings to supply approximately 850 hectares of cassava cultivation in just over a year.

The local supply of disease-free seedlings has helped farmers reduce production costs, better manage planting schedules, and shorten the time needed to introduce new varieties into cultivation. As a result, many cassava-growing areas once devastated by mosaic disease have gradually recovered, contributing to stabilizing raw materials for Tay Ninh Province's starch processing plants.

Turning Dong Tao chickens into a specialty of the borderland

If cassava represents Phuong's hallmark achievement in crop production, then the artificial insemination model for breeding Dong Tao chickens stands out as his signature innovation in livestock farming.

Dong Tao chickens are renowned as a premium indigenous breed, prized for their flavorful meat and high economic value. However, natural breeding is challenging because the breed's distinctive large legs and heavy body reduce the mating efficiency of breeding roosters. For many years, farmers in Tay Ninh had to source breeding stock from Hung Yen province at high cost, with limited control over quality.

Recognizing the growing market demand, Phuong and farmer Nguyen The Thao successfully developed an artificial insemination process for purebred Dong Tao chickens. The process was developed methodically, from selecting parent stock and semen collection to semen preparation, artificial insemination, incubation, and chick rearing.

Thanks to this technique, semen from a single rooster, once diluted, can be used to inseminate around 100 hens. The hatchability rate reaches over 70%, while chick survival reaches 90–95%. At the same time, the breed's prized characteristics, including large legs, well-proportioned body, and flavorful meat, are successfully preserved.

Most importantly, chicken farmers have become fully self-sufficient in breeding stock produced locally, eliminating their dependence on stock transported from other provinces. From an initial breeding flock of just 20 chickens, the model has expanded to around 3,000 heads, including more than 1,000 breeding hens and over 2,000 broilers. On average, the model supplies 7–10 tons of commercial chickens annually, selling at around VND 250,000/kg. It also produces two batches of breeding chicks each year, priced at approximately VND 60,000/chick, generating annual profits of VND 200–300 million.

Beyond meeting demand in Tay Ninh, the breeds are now sought after by farmers in Dong Nai and the Mekong Delta provinces. In the coming time, the model aims to establish a linkage group and eventually develop into a cooperative to provide technical support and breeds, build a regional brand, and expand consumption markets.

Under Tay Ninh’s strategy for developing green agriculture associated with tourism, Dong Tao chickens have the potential to become a signature local specialty, contributing to diversifying OCOP products and developing rural tourism.

According to Mr. Ha Thanh Tung, Deputy Director of the Tay Ninh Agricultural Extension Center, what sets Phuong apart is his commitment to listening to farmers before developing any model. Because his initiatives are rooted in farmers' actual needs, the solutions he develops are highly practical, supported by local communities, and replicated after the projects ended. That is why many of his innitiatives have gone beyond the scope of demonstration models to become effective production solutions for farmers in the province.

$1 = VND 26,466 - Source: Vietcombank