VIETNAMESE FARMERS DISCOVER THE POWER OF FLOWERS

CUU LONG DELTA, Vietnam - A member of the Tan Phu A1 Agriculture Co-operative in Tan Chau Town OF Vietnam has planted flowers on the edge of his paddy fields to attract bees, ladybugs and spiders, which eat brown planthoppers and rice-leaf folders. By planting the flowers, he can avoid using pesticides.
The flowers planted in rice fields in Mekong Delta An Giang Province may look pretty, but they are there for a more sinister purpose: to attract insects that kill pests.
Thousands of farmers in the province are taking part in a programme launched in Tien Giang Province at the end of 2009 by the International Rice Research Institute, in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's Plant Protection Department.

• This year, farmer Tran Duc Thanh of An Giang harvested 4.5 tonnes of paddy from his 0.6ha rice field, an increase of 360 kilo compared to previous crops. He also saved VND600,000 (US$30) in production costs.
• The province has also taught farmers new techniques and required that they plant quality seeds.
• Under the programme model, they must reduce the number of rice seeds sown and the use of nitrogen fertilisers and plant-protection chemicals, as well as the volume of water used for irrigation. Post-harvest losses are also expected to be cut.

Trinh Van Dut, chairman of the Tan Phu A1 Agriculture Co-operative, said the cultivation of flowers near rice fields and the use of advanced farming techniques had helped raise profits by VND3 million ($140) per hectare per crop.
Nguyen Huu An, head of the An Giang Sub-Department of Plant Protection, said that 1,600 farmers in An Giang had planted flowers around 734ha of paddy fields.

Source:VNS