Mr. Bui Van Hanh’s family, zone 2, Tien Thang commune is one of the households with the largest export area of baby cucumber in the commune. He said that it is easy to grow and consume baby cucumber, does not require much care but brings high economic value.
The advantage of baby cucumber is that it is a short-term plant. So, in addition to growing rice, farmers in the commune can also grow two crops of baby cucumbers (winter and spring-summer crops). These are the two main times for the baby cucumber to grow and develop well, bringing the highest yield.
Like Mr. Hanh’s family, the households participating in the model are excited when their efforts pay off.
Mrs. Ngo Thi Khuyen, zone 4, My Loc village, Tien Thang commune (Tien Lang district, Hai Phong city) excitedly shared: At first, when the baby cucumber was introduced to us, my family and many other households were quite confused. Especially, the baby cucumber was planted when rainy weather, causing many plants to die and we had to start again.
“Currently, baby cucumber growers in the commune are more secure when the product has stable output after many years. If the weather is favorable and the price is like this crop, growing baby cucumber is 3-4 times more effective than rice,” said Mrs. Khuyen.
As a baby cucumber grower for many years, Mrs. Ngo Thi Mien from the same village added that baby cucumber needs a lot of water and cannot withstand drought, so we have to regularly water them. Especially, during the flowering period, this plant should not be left without water because if there is a lack of water, the plants will be small and bear poor fruit. However, excessive watering also causes this plant to become waterlogged and it will die.
Mrs. Ngo Thi Mien, zone 4, My Loc village, Tien Thang commune (Tien Lang district, Hai Phong city) is harvesting her family’s baby cucumbers. (Photo: Thu Thuy)
The cultivation of baby cucumbers for export must be guaranteed following each standard. The soil for planting must avoid polluted areas, plow and harrow thoroughly to make the soil soft, then use lime to treat potential diseases.
In the process of growing baby cucumbers, growers have to set up poles for the plant. Wherever the vines go, they tie the tops and branches to the poles so that the baby cucumbers are exposed to a lot of light to bear many fruits at the standard type 1.
Yellow leaves must be removed so that diseases do not spread to the fruit. (Photo: Thu Thuy)
Mr. Trinh Van Vinh – Director of Tien Thang Agricultural Service Business Cooperative (Tien Lang district, Hai Phong city), said that baby cucumber is a hermaphroditic plant that does not need to be pollinated for flowers. They are very suitable for planting in Tien Thang. Their fruit can be used as vegetables, juiced, and used to make many other dishes.
Grade 1 baby cucumbers are being harvested by farmers. (Photo: Thu Thuy)
The characteristic of baby cucumber is that harvest time is longer than planting time. Baby cucumbers after being grown only 1 month and 5 days can be harvested. The harvest time lasts from 45 to 50 days. Farmers harvest once every 2-3 days, if left for longer, baby cucumbers become bigger and will lose price.
Currently, the average selling price of baby cucumbers grade 1 in the garden is 11,000-12,000 VND/kg, and baby cucumbers grade 2 are from 9000 to 10,000 VND/kg. The average yield of baby cucumbers is 7-8 quintals/rod. Excluding all expenses, farmers in the commune earn a profit of 8-9 million VND/rod.
“The Cooperative is the intermediary stage to cover the consumption of products, signing a production association contract with Nguyen Duc Cuong One Member Co., Ltd. to consume products for farmers for many years. Baby cucumbers have opened an opportunity in agricultural production towards concentrated goods and improving the land use coefficient, contributing to creating jobs and increasing income for local farmers ” Mr. Vinh shared.