Kon Tum: Effectiveness from Japanese sweet potato growing model

According to Ms. Hanh, at first she only rented land, bought seeds from Da Lat and tested planting about 2 hectares in December 2016. With careful care, and because this variety is suitable for the climate and soil in Kon Tum, her sweet potato garden has a very high yield. “Investing 40 million VND/ha, after 4 months I earned 100 million VND/ha. Seeing that this type of plant brings high economic efficiency, I continue to plant” – Ms. Hanh said.

From 2 hectares, Ms. Hanh continued to expand to 5 hectares. With 5 hectares, she invested about 250 million VND to buy seeds, fertilizers, water-saving irrigation systems, harvesting labor, etc. Recently, each hectare yielded about 20 tons, with a price of 16 million VND/ton, she earned more than 1 billion VND. In addition to harvesting tubers, she also sells seedlings for 10 million VND/ha. “This sweet potato model is easy to grow and has low costs, so I decided to invest in 2 more hectares in Dak To district,” said Ms. Hanh.

Similarly, Mr. Hoang Minh Phuong’s family in Dak Ngoc commune, Dak Ha district also learned about it and boldly planted about 2 hectares of this sweet potato variety. After harvesting, he earned nearly 300 million VND. Mr. Phuong said: With the land area that cannot grow rice, we switched to growing Japanese sweet potatoes. The input costs are not high, the care is convenient, and the profit is 5-6 times higher than growing rice. In the coming time, we will continue to grow and replicate this model.

Although not yet planted, recently, through research and learning about the Japanese sweet potato variety, Mr. Nguyen Van Thong, Kon Tum city, is also preparing to plant about 1-2 hectares of this plant. He said that he is currently preparing the land, waiting for suitable weather to plant. “This is a new variety, what we are most worried about is the output, if there is a facility to purchase and consume, growers will feel more secure. Currently, the output is not stable, so many people, even though they have land, still do not dare to do it” – Mr. Thong shared.

It is known that although planting by self-cultivation of F1, F2, F3 seeds… is still effective, but planting by tissue culture is the best choice, limiting the situation of bad seeds, giving high yield, bringing outstanding economic efficiency. With encouraging economic efficiency, currently, in the province, there are a few units supplying tissue cultured Japanese sweet potato seeds.