Abstract
The aim of the research described was to design permanent vegetable production systems for the Red River Delta in Vietnam. Permanent vegetable production systems better meet the increasing consumer demand for vegetables and may increase farmers’ income. Optimum crop sequences for permanent vegetable production in the Red River Delta were designed with the recently developed model PermVeg. The crop sequences designed were tested in a field experiment from May 2007 to May 2009. The production systems tested were five systems designed according to the scenarios of (i) high profitability, (ii) low labor requirement, (iii) low costs of pesticide use, (iv) high level of crop biodiversity, and (v) low perishable products, respectively. The five systems were compared with the traditional vegetable production system. At local prices, only the high profitability and low labor requirement systems yielded significantly higher profits than the traditional system. At city wholesale market prices, profits of all permanent vegetable production systems were significantly higher than that of the traditional system, except for the low perishability system. Permanent vegetable production systems required more labor than the traditional system. Labor-day incomes of permanent vegetable production systems generally were not higher than those of the traditional system. The labor-day income increased only with the low labor requirement system at city wholesale market prices. The model outcomes correlated reasonably well with the labor requirement and the length in days of production systems in the field. The model poorly predicted profits and costs of pesticide use. We concluded that permanent vegetable production systems can yield higher profits than the traditional system, and can contribute to enhancing employment opportunities and increasing household income.
Highlights
Field vegetable production in South East Asia plays a major role in food supply, quality of the diet, income improvement, and trade development [1]
In case labor has to be hired, household income will only increase when day wages paid are lower than the labor-day income derived from permanent vegetable production systems
The model scenarios of high profitability and low labor requirement were confirmed by the results of the field experiment
Summary
Field vegetable production in South East Asia plays a major role in food supply, quality of the diet, income improvement, and trade development [1]. As income and educational levels have increased, consumers have become more aware of the role of vegetables in a healthy diet. Supply of vegetables per capita in many South East Asian countries has increased over the last 20 years: e.g., in Vietnam, from 110 g per person per day in 1990–1993 to 300 g per person per day in 2010–2013 and in Thailand from 90 g per person per day in 1990–1993 to 130 g per person per day in 2010–2013 [2]. Besides increasing income for farmers, vegetable production in South East Asia stimulates trade as well. Thailand exported vegetable products worth 200 million US dollars per year during 2000–2005 to 300 million US dollars per year during 2011–2016 [2]
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