In recent years, farmers in Dai Tu District have increasingly introduced jicama into areas with limited irrigation or adopted a cropping system of one rice crop followed by two jicama crops each year. The cultivation model has gradually expanded to more communes, helping improve economic returns per hectare of farmland.
Early November marks the beginning of the jicama harvest season, following the completion of the summer-autumn rice harvest and the start of land preparation for the winter crop. Traveling through My Yen, Van Yen, and Ky Phu communes, groups of farmers can be seen harvesting jicama across the fields. Local farmers often exchange labor to help one another, with five to seven people pulling up the roots while another two or three transport and stack the harvested jicama along inter-commune roads. This makes it easier for trucks to collect the produce. This season, farmers staggered planting from July to September, allowing harvests to continue through the Lunar New Year.
According to Pham Thi Duoc, a farmer from Gio Hamlet in Ky Phu Commune, jicama can be cultivated during multiple seasons each year. “The spring crop is planted between February and March and harvested from May to June, while the current crop is the autumn-winter season. Farmers here typically grow two jicama crops and one rice crop annually, provided the autumn-winter crop is planted early enough to allow spring rice cultivation in December. This year, however, unfavorable weather delayed planting, so many households will skip the spring rice crop and grow another vegetable crop instead. The harvest has been excellent, with uniform, high-quality roots and yields approaching three tonnes per sao. My family grows three sao of jicama and has just harvested about 10 tonnes, generating nearly VND 30 million in revenue.”
Thanks to its strong economic returns, jicama has gradually become an important commercial crop in recent years, providing substantial income for farmers in communes such as Ban Ngoai, Van Yen, My Yen, and Ky Phu. During this autumn-winter season alone, Dai Tu District cultivated more than 80 hectares of jicama. Ban Ngoai Commune, the first locality in the district to adopt large-scale jicama cultivation, accounts for more than 40 hectares. Most of the area is concentrated in Quang Trung, Khau Giao 1, and Khau Giao 2 hamlets.
Previously, farmers alternated one rice crop with one jicama crop, mainly on higher fields with limited water supplies. After recognizing the crop’s profitability, however, they gradually expanded cultivation and increased cropping intensity, making jicama one of their primary crops throughout the year. This season, farmers have been particularly pleased with average yields of nearly three tonnes per sao. At a selling price of around VND 3,000 per kilogram, growers earn profits of approximately VND 6–7 million per sao after production costs. This is roughly five to six times higher than cultivating rice.
Hoang Van Thanh, Head of the Dai Tu District Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the district has focused in recent years on diversifying agricultural production, promoting commercial farming, and increasing returns per unit of cultivated land. Jicama has emerged as one of the crops that best meets these development objectives. With favorable growing conditions this year, yields are expected to surpass previous seasons. This will enable farmers to generate more than VND 300 million per hectare.
Jicama has therefore become one of the district’s most economically effective crops and is well suited to local farming conditions. Farmers across Dai Tu District are continuing to expand cultivation, particularly by intercropping jicama on fields with limited irrigation, as a way to improve land-use efficiency and increase household incomes.
Vietnamese source: https://baothainguyen.vn/kinh-te/201711/hieu-qua-tu-trong-cu-dau-367E99A/
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