Greenhouse investment: hardship in capital blocks the 'fruit' of profit

Investing in net houses and greenhouses to grow clean vegetables and fruits proves to be the right decision for farmers in Phuc Lam commune, My Duc district, Hanoi city. Many households in the commune are aware that the application of high technology in the production of clean vegetables and fruits is one of the important solutions to take the initiative in production, not affected by natural disasters, pests, and diseases, increase the efficiency of land use, crop productivity and bring high economic efficiency as well. However, in order to acquire a net house, the investment capital must be very high.

In 2019, Ms. Cao Thi Linh's household in Chan Chim village, Phuc Lam commune pioneered the investment in net houses on an area of ​​about 1,000 m2, with a total investment of over VND 200 million.

For her family, this is not at all a small amount of money. Although facing economic difficulties, Ms. Linh's family is still determined. When the net houses and greenhouses appear, Ms. Linh's family is more convenient and fully active in farming and production, able to produce safe and quality vegetable products.

Upon seeing my family built a net house, many farmers in the commune also wanted to build it to grow clean vegetables. But after asking me about the cost, knowing that the first 1,000 m2 costs about 200 million, they shake their heads, saying that the cost was too high for the farmer to invest".

(Ms. Cao Thi Linh, farmer in Chan Chim village)

In 2020, Mr. Duong Manh Toan, Phuc Lam Ha village, also boldly invested about VND 360 million to build net houses with an area of ​​2000 m2. After more than a year of implementing the net house model, Mr. Toan has confirmed that the economic efficiency is much higher than that of intensive outdoor farming. On average, each field brings about VND 25-30 million/year in profit.

However, he shared: "The most difficult thing is still the lack of capital and the lack of linkage in production and products consumption”.

As reality shows, the lack of capital and consumption market are major barriers that make people in Phuc Lam commune still hesitant and not determined to invest in applying high technology in the production of clean vegetables and fruits.

Therefore, the number of households building net houses and greenhouses here is not much. Up to this point, the whole Phuc Lam commune has only two households building net houses and greenhouses and one household growing organic vegetables on a large scale. The remaining over 200 households maintain cultivating vegetables and rotate crops according to the traditional method.

Mr. Pham Quy Ba, Chairman of Phuc Lam Commune Farmers' Association shared: At present, many of the commune’s products have been put into supermarkets. The Commune Farmers' Association has actively coordinated with the Bank for Social Policies, the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, and the City Farmers' Support Fund to help the people have access to preferential capital with a debt balance managed by the Commune Farmers' Union of over VND 10 billion.

However, that capital source has not yet met the demand for loans for investment and production development of farmers in Phuc Lam commune. In addition, the Covid-19 epidemic also greatly affected the consumption market, the products produced by farmers were in excess and could not be consumed, making farmers dispirited.