Growing bitter melon organically on sandy soil

In the summer-Autumn 2023 crop, the Project Management Board of "Modernizing the Forestry Sector and Enhancing Coastal Resilience" (FMCR Project) in Quang Tri supports 70 households in Dong Duong village, Hai Duong commune (Hai Lang district) to deploy an organic bitter melon growing model on a scale of 10 ha. Quang Tri Agricultural Extension Center is the unit that directly trains and guides farmers in implementing the model.

Mr Phan Van Tan, a household participating in the model, said that Hai Duong commune is a sandy land, before rains there is often flooding, and the atmosphere becomes dry even before the sun hits. For sandy soil, the amount of water for plants must be very large. However, in the summer-autumn crop, regulating the production of water has so far encountered many difficulties. The soil's ability to retain moisture increases with instructions on how to compost organic fertilizer to fertilize plants and use straw as mulch. Thanks to that, the amount of water for crops is reduced but still ensures good growth and development.

Organic production, without the use of plant protection chemicals, helps improve the soil, and at the same time, the product is safe, easy to consume, and has a high price.

Also according to Mr. Tan, the organic composting process is followed very strictly by farmers, and households guide and supervise each other. The compost pit is covered with a layer of straw and chopped tree branches are brought to the bottom of the hole with a thickness of 20cm to provide oxygen and create ventilation for microorganisms to function best. Manure is covered on top, then farmers continue to add a layer of straw and leaves to cover the manure, with a ratio of 1 part manure to 25 parts straw, and watered them with IMO3 solution.

After filling the compost pit and covering it with tarpaulin or sacks to keep the compost pit moist, at the same time, farmers protect livestock and poultry from entering the compost pit. After 15 - 20 days of incubation, the farmers will turn the fertilizer and check the humidity. If it is below 60 - 70%, they will add IMO3 water.

Although this method takes a lot of effort, it takes advantage of available by-products in agricultural production, reducing input costs. The productivity of growing bitter melon organically in Hai Duong commune in the summer-autumn crop of 2023 is not high. However, according to Mr Tan, if farmers persist with this farming method, productivity will improve significantly in the next crops. When the soil is detoxified and supplemented with necessary nutrients and soil moisture is higher, crop productivity will increase significantly.

“Even though this is the first crop produced by this method, the yield is 5-6 tons/ha lower than conventional farming but the investment cost is 20-21% lower. The selling price is VND 1,000/kg higher, so the profit is still VND 20 - 21 million/ha higher", Mr. Tan said.

In addition to the model in Hai Duong commune, the FMCR Project also supports farmers in Hai Ba commune to grow 6 ha of bitter melon organically. According to Hai Ba farmers participating in the model, growing bitter melon organically brings many benefits. However, if you combine intercropping with other crops such as gourds and squash to increase the land use coefficient, farmers will diversify their income sources. When the bitter melon plant is out of harvest time, other intercropped crops will still be harvested.

Mr. Tran Can, Director of Quang Tri Agricultural Extension Center said, that growing bitter melon organically relying on microbial organic fertilizers composted from locally available by-products instead of intensive farming based on chemicals not only reduces production costs, improves land, and improves the ecological environment but most importantly, create clean products, protect the health of producers and consumers, protect soil and water resources, and serve as the basic foundation for organic agricultural production.

This is considered a "practice" step to help farmers become familiar with organic farming. It will be deployed more widely by Quang Tri in the near future, especially on sandy coastal areas of the province.