Lung Phinh commune women grow temperate vegetables to escape poverty

Lung Phinh is a highland commune of Bac Ha district, with a typical temperate climate and cold winters. In the past, people left their land fallow in the winter. In recent years, Lung Phinh has become the leading commune in the region in growing winter vegetables and medicinal plants. Due to the suitable climate, temperate vegetables grow very well. Since 2023, the planting area in the whole commune has increased significantly. Up to the winter-spring crop of 2023 - 2024, Lung Phinh commune has grown 35 hectares of vegetables, including 3 hectares of cabbage, 5 hectares of specialty vegetables such as peas, 11 hectares of beans and dozens of hectares of other vegetables such as kohlrabi, sweet cabbage, cat cabbage, kale... In addition, people have also grown 5 hectares of medicinal plants such as angelica.

Realizing the economic efficiency of cultivating temperate crops, Phu La and Mong women in the locality are very active in cultivating, helping to increase the production area every year.

Ms. Giang Sin Xuyen - President of the Women's Union of Lung Phinh commune, said: "In the past, women in Lung Phinh did not have the habit of producing winter crops, if they did, it was only to serve the needs of their families. But now, women have changed their thinking and working methods when they realized the effectiveness of producing temperate vegetables, focusing resources to develop them into commodity products that bring in the main source of income for their families. Up to now, women in all 6 villages in the whole commune are cultivating winter vegetables."

In addition to participating in vegetable production at home, many women in the commune also work at the Kale Farm in Pa Chu Ty village (Lung Phinh commune).

This is one of the typical farm models of Lung Phinh commune. With an area of ​​over 30,000m2 of cultivated land, the farm is divided into areas such as: Building a stilt house to display products; an area for visitors to experience picking vegetables, tubers, fruits and cooking right on the farm; an area for growing fruit trees such as pears, plums...; an area for growing rainbow vegetables, strawberries, tomatoes. In particular, the farm dedicates 15,000m2 to growing kale. Every year, this facility not only attracts many female workers from ethnic minorities, creating jobs and income for them, but more importantly, it helps them improve their skills and experience in planting and caring for crops, thereby applying and producing at home, contributing to improving the quality and productivity of local products.

Currently, kale is the main product of women in Lung Phinh commune. This type of vegetable is suitable for the climate and soil in Lung Phinh, so it grows quickly, has few pests and diseases and has a high selling price, because the market demand is always high.

Ms. Giang Thi Chu - owner of a vegetable farm in Lung Phinh - said: "There was a time when the price of vegetables reached 50 thousand VND/kg, so in the winter-spring crop, each family also had an income of several tens of millions of VND, those with large houses and growing a lot of vegetables could earn hundreds of millions of VND/crop. This is a great source of motivation for women to strive to cultivate and grow vegetables."