Bringing Ben Tre coconuts to the rice homeland

Instead of having to go all the way to the Southwest, people can now see the coconut gardens laden with fruit and enjoy the cool, fresh coconut water right in the fields of their homeland Thai Binh. Not only bringing the specialty of Ben Tre province to the rice homeland, the model of growing coconuts on low-lying acidic land of Mr. Hoang Van Tam's family, Nhat Tan village, Tan Hoa commune (Vu Thu) also helps growers increase their income and improve their lives.

With sweet coconut water quality and reasonable price, Mr. Tam's family's coconut is very popular in the provincial market.

Previously, the entire coconut garden of Mr. Hoang Van Tam's family was just a low-lying field, growing rice was ineffective so people left it fallow. In 2013, Mr. Tam's family took over production and renovated ^5,000m2 in this land. In the first years, Mr. Tam planted many different types of fruit trees such as guava, jackfruit, papaya but the economic efficiency was not high. In 2017, he boldly switched to growing Siamese coconut trees, a specialty fruit of Ben Tre province and popular in the Southwest but very new to rice-growing areas like Thai Binh.

Mr. Tam shared that there were many difficulties such as there was no model of growing Siamese coconut in his hometown for him to learn techniques; the soil and climate conditions in the North were not suitable for the growth and development of Siamese coconut trees. In particular, the most difficult task was preventing and controlling pests for young coconut trees. Coconut trees are easily damaged by shoot borers, or aphids that attack the top and young leaves, each coconut tree only has one top, if not proactively preventing and controlling pests in time, the tree will be completely damaged, causing great damage. However, with perseverance and passion, after 5 years of planting, 3 years from the first harvest, Mr. Tam's family has enjoyed the sweet fruits of Siamese coconut trees.

“In the first year of harvest, the whole garden only had a few hundred fruits, in the second year, the garden had more than 1,000 fruits. This is the third year, in the first crop which is also the main crop, my family has harvested more than 10,000 coconuts, earning more than 100 million VND. From the seventh year onwards, this coconut tree will yield 1.5 - 2 times higher than the current yield, the economic efficiency will be higher” - Mr. Tam added.

Since Mr. Tam's family has a coconut garden, Ms. Pham Thi Hue, Nhat Tan village, Tan Hoa commune, has had a side job selling coconuts in the summer, earning extra income for her family. Ms. Hue said: At first, I came to Mr. Tam's family's coconut garden just because I was curious to see if the coconuts grown in my hometown were as delicious as the coconuts in the South. After many times of enjoying them, I found the quality of the coconut water to be very good, the water is sweet, and the price is affordable. Up to now, I have sold quite a lot of Mr. Tam's coconuts to the market, and customer feedback on the quality of the coconuts is very good. I find that Mr. Tam's family's coconut growing model helps save on transportation costs, the product price is cheaper, and it is convenient for many people to enjoy coconut water grown right in the locality.

With the soil and climate conditions of the North, Mr. Tam has his own secret to not only making coconut trees bear fruit and give high productivity, but also producing good quality coconut water, meeting the increasingly high demands of the market.

“Every month, after each harvest, I have to clean the tree trunks and add 100% organic fertilizer. In particular, I have to drill a 50m deep well to get brackish water, pump it up every day so that the coconut trees can drink this water. On each coconut tree, I incubate cloth bags containing salt so that the salt can gradually penetrate the tree. The purpose is that when the coconut bears fruit, the coconut water will be sweet and rich,” Mr. Tam shared.

In the summer of 2023, Mr. Tam's family harvested more than 10,000 coconuts, earning more than 100 million VND.

With a ^5,000m2 garden, Mr. Tam's family currently grows more than 200 dwarf coconut trees with varieties of fire coconut, small-fruited green coconut, and large-fruited green coconut. Each year, the coconut trees are harvested 2-3 times, lasting for the last 6 months of the year. Up to now, the coconut trees yield an average of 200 fruits/tree/year, with an average selling price of 10,000 VND/fruit. After deducting investment costs, Mr. Tam's family earns nearly 150 million VND/year.

Mr. Vu Van Tien, Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Tan Hoa Commune, affirmed that the model of renovating wasteland to grow coconuts is a new direction, affirming the creativity, boldness, daring to think, daring to do and high learning spirit of member Hoang Van Tam. Up to now, the model has brought high economic efficiency, bringing a stable source of income, increasing income for Mr. Tam's family and is also a model and motivation for other farmer members to learn, continue to change the structure of crop varieties, put into production crops with higher economic efficiency than traditional rice cultivation.

By boldly converting to growing coconuts on barren land, Mr. Hoang Van Tam's family not only increased their income and improved their lives, but also met the demand for coconut water during the hot season right in the local market.

Quynh Luu

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