Twenty schools in Dong Thap Province, southern Vietnam have involved students in growing organic vegetables at school gardens in a bid to enrich their knowledge about farming and prove the model of such gardens.

The vegetable gardening at these schools is part of an organic farming project backed by Seed To Table, a Japanese non-profit organization.

The Dong Thap Agricultural and Rural Clean Water Service Center said on Tuesday that the project has been implemented at 20 schools in 10 districts and cities of the province, producing remarkable results.

Via the project, which was launched in 2019, 20 net-roofed houses have been built to plant organic vegetables, while participating students have been equipped with farm uniforms.

Furthermore, signboards have already been placed at the vegetable gardens.

Many schools are growing legumes and flowers to develop an ecosystem in their gardens, while some others have planted vegetables to harvest and sell full-grown plants to residents and teachers.

As a way to get knowledge about organic farming, the students engaging in the vegetable gardening were told to report their study results in terms of the maturity of vegetables in different soil conditions, the growth stages and cultivation methods of mustard and peanut farming for soil improvement, the growth of vegetables after the volume of organic fertilizer is changed, and the status of organic farming.

A group of students at Nguyen Du High School in Cao Lanh City was assigned to study the maturity of organic vegetables in different soil conditions. 

Their study results showed that among two vegetable beds with the same area and volume of seeds, one which received a double volume of organic fertilizer was much more productive than the other with a normal amount of the fertilizer.

During the vegetable gardening process, teachers always accompany students and help them absorb knowledge about organic agriculture and raise their awareness of environment and ecosystem protection.

In 2023, the project, funded by Seed To Table, will be expanded to three more schools in the province. 

Besides, seven groups of farmers, including 13 households, have joined the project to farm organic plants on a combined area of 2.8 hectares in line with Vietnamese PGS standards. Each kilogram of full-grown vegetables which are yet to be labeled is priced at VND20,000-40,000 (US$0.85-1.7).

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Cultural tourism was chosen as the main theme for the Vietnam International Travel Mart – VITM Hanoi 2023, scheduled for April, with an aim at promoting Vietnam’s traditional and modern culture to international visitors.

Developing cultural tourism products

With cultural tourism as the main theme, this year’s expo is expected to encourage tourism businesses to study and design new travel products by making the most of unique values of the country’s traditional culture and its heritages, according to the Vietnam Tourism Association (VITA), the expo’s organizing board.

The cultural diversity of 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam has given the Southeast Asian nation a big advantage in attracting international visitors.

“We need to review our travel products to develop specialized cultural ones while introducing the concept of cultural tourism to vocational schools.

“A step-by-step roadmap is needed to develop and promote cultural tourism,” Vu The Binh, chairman at the VITA, said at a press conference of VITM – Hanoi 2023 on Tuesday morning.

VITM 2023 to feature ongoing issues of Vietnam tourism 

This year’s event, which is also the time to look back at a 10-year journey of VITM, will include a range of tourism promotion activities, including business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) meetings.

A number of hot issues in the local tourism industry will be tabled for discussion at the event through a forum on the development of Vietnamese cultural tourism and a seminar on measures to reduce plastic waste in the field.

As of March this year, businesses from more than 50 provinces and cities in Vietnam, along with 15 countries and territories had registered to join the VITM – Hanoi 2023, which will take place from April 13 to 16 in the capital city of Hanoi.

The expo will offer numerous travel products and special discounts to visitors.

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With a great affection for Phu Quoc Island off Kien Giang Province in southern Vietnam, a group of young volunteers from Phu Quoc City have been running beach cleanup drives to keep trash out of the ocean.

On scheduled days, be it sunshine or rain, each member of the group is in charge of a specific task.

Those who can swim are responsible for diving into the ocean to pick up trash, while others collect garbage on the shore.

Apart from the beach cleanup, these volunteers also climb to the top of Tien Son Mountain, which is a popular destination for tourists to take photos on the pearl island, to keep it clean.

The beach and mountain cleanup drives are aimed at spreading the message of environmental protection to locals and visitors.

The group members, equipped with scuba gear, tongs and bags, collect waste on beaches and underwater three times a month.

Due to the dangerous, rough, and slippery path to the Tien Son mountain peak, nearly 500 meters above sea level, these young people only lead cleanup groups there on sunny days.

Nguyen Minh Duc, a native of Phu Quoc City, said, “The group collects all types of trash such as used plastic bags, plastic bottles, fishing nets, and household waste.”

During the initial period, the group picked up garbage along Dinh Cau and Rach Vem Beaches. The cleanup was then expanded to Bai Truong Beach in Duong To Commune, Phu Quoc City.

“The meaningful act has attracted crowds of locals to join in the cleanup program. The group collects 50-100 tons of waste each year,” he recounted.

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