Comrade Thach Thi Khonc Thi, Agricultural Officer of Long Duc Commune, discussed wax coconut growing techniques with Kien Nhu gardeners.
Wax coconut is famous and has become the main product of Cau Ke district. This is a locality with stable connections with establishments and businesses inside and outside the province, especially Cau Ke Wax Coconut Processing Company Limited.
Recently, Cau Ke district has coordinated with the Department of Rural Development to support drying machines and candy making machines for Cau Ke Wax Coconut Processing Company Limited to improve product quality. At the same time, support the Company to build a brand for wax coconut products in Hamlet 2, Thanh Phu commune with 11 OCOP products from wax coconut recognized, including 01 5-star product (Vicosap wax coconut fiber), 03 4-star products, 5-star potential (pure flavored wax coconut candy, pandan flavored wax coconut candy, cocoa flavored wax coconut candy), 07 4-star products (vacuum-packed wax coconut, crispy dried wax coconut, crispy Vicosap wax coconut yogurt, Vicosap ribbed banana candy, Vicosap wax coconut and sweet potato cake, Vicosap wax coconut and pumpkin cake, Vicosap wax coconut and banana cake.
Currently, Cau Ke Wax Coconut Processing Company Limited has used information technology and digital transformation in production, distribution and trading of products (selling products through e-commerce channels: Sendo, Lazada, has its own website Shopee mail and coordinates with departments, branches, and commune organizations to upload on applications such as Zalo, Facebook, etc. to introduce and sell products).
For many years, wax coconut has been a crop that has brought high economic efficiency to the people of Cau Ke district in general and the Khmer people in particular. From small, scattered plantings and seeing the economic efficiency, many households in the district have boldly converted rice fields to grow wax coconut. Up to now, Cau Ke has 2,034 households growing wax coconut with about 171,468 trees. The average wax coconut yield is over 3 million fruits/year, the economic efficiency is 3-4 times higher than growing normal coconut trees.
Cau Ke has 01 Hoa Tan wax coconut cooperative with 43 members. Currently, the cooperative has more than 32 hectares of wax coconut, 25.2 hectares of VietGAP certified area, 4-star OCOP and is 01 of 12 pilot cooperatives of the new cooperative model. The cooperative continues to renew the VietGAP certification (2022 to May 2025). Production and business activities of the cooperative in 2023 with revenue of over 170 million VND.
Recently, Cau Ke has focused on re-planning the specialized wax coconut growing areas concentrated in the communes of Hoa Tan, Hoa An, Phong Phu, Tam Ngai, An Phu Tan. Coordinated with the Department of Rural Development to support the development and implementation of growing area codes and VietGAP on coconut trees for Hoa Tan Cooperative. At the same time, implementing Resolution No. 03/2021/NQ-HDND, dated March 19, 2021 of the Provincial People's Council on supporting the restructuring of the agricultural sector in the province for the period 2021 - 2025; Resolution No. 98/2019/NQ-HDND, dated December 10, 2019 of the Provincial People's Council on regulating the level of support for the development of small-scale irrigation, intra-field irrigation and advanced water-saving irrigation in the province on wax coconut trees.
In the coming time, Cau Ke will continue to support the connection between cooperatives, enterprises and households with stable sources of raw materials for enterprises and cooperatives as well as create stable output for wax coconut growers in the district, contributing to solving employment for local workers. Building a raw material area that meets organic standards for export to the European market.
Nowadays, not only Cau Ke area produces wax coconut trees, some other localities in the province such as Chau Thanh, Tieu Can, Tra Vinh city ... have successfully grown wax coconut trees and embryonated wax coconut trees, bringing high economic efficiency. Typically, Long Duc commune is a commune on the outskirts of Tra Vinh city, in recent years, in addition to producing various ornamental flowers, people in the commune have focused on developing coconut trees with an area of 900 hectares, including 10 hectares of wax coconut; 300 hectares of coconut are certified to meet organic standards.
Farmer Kien Nhu, Sa Binh hamlet, Long Duc commune is one of the households that has successfully converted wax coconut trees to grow on ineffective rice land, bringing high income to the family.
Mr. Nhu said: about 10 years ago, the family economy depended on growing rice 3 crops/year, low productivity, unstable selling price, low profit. Therefore, he boldly converted 0.5ha of rice land to grow wax coconut, the profit is 10 times higher than rice. Currently, wax coconut produces fruit every month, earning from 5 - 6 million VND, some months the coconut produces a lot of wax fruit so the income increases to 7 - 8 million VND. Each coconut tree only produces from 2 - 3 wax fruits, selling price is 100,000 VND/grade 1 wax coconut.
In addition to wax coconut, he also has income from dry coconut, with a selling price of 65,000 VND/dozen (12 fruits). The total income from wax coconut and dry coconut is about 10 million VND/month on average. In addition, he intercrops mango and citrus trees to increase income, cover living expenses and fertilizer for wax coconut trees.
According to Mr. Le Van Dong, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, in 2024, the Department will preside over and coordinate with the Department of Science and Technology to clarify the criteria on "Intellectual Property" in the set of criteria for evaluating and classifying OCOP products according to Decision No. 148/QD-TTg, dated February 24, 2023 of the Prime Minister. Propose content and solutions so that potential 4-star and 5-star OCOP products meet the highest criteria requirements. Therefore, the Department will coordinate with provincial and local departments, branches to implement solutions, strengthen investment promotion, product promotion, and link with businesses, cooperatives and coconut growers.
Strategy to upgrade the wax coconut value chain from now to 2025, Strategy to upgrade the coconut value chain in the period of 2022 - 2025 to develop about 550 hectares of specialty wax coconut; expand and renovate 3,000 hectares of aging coconut gardens; by 2025, coconut productivity will reach 16 tons/ha; have at least 8,000 hectares of organic coconut; at least 10 enterprises will cooperate with coconut producers to build raw material areas for processing and consumption according to the high-value coconut production chain.
Article and photos: MAN QUAN
Source
Comment (0)