Good pineapple season in Cau Duc

Good season, good price

Cau Duc pineapple growing area has an area of over 3,300 hectares, mainly grown by farmers in Hoa Luu commune, Vinh Vien commune, Can Tho city. Pineapple trees have been attached to this land for about 100 years. This is an alum soil area, often affected by saltwater intrusion in the dry season, for that reason Cau Duc pineapple has a sweet taste and less water than other areas.

While counting pineapples for traders, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thao in My Hiep 2 hamlet, Hoa Luu commune, was excited because of the good harvest and good price. About 5 months ago, she processed nearly 2,000 young pineapple plants, most of which produced grade 1 fruits for harvest this time. With the farm price of 10,200 VND/fruit, she earned nearly 20 million VND.

Mrs. Thao's family has nearly 1 hectare of land growing Queen pineapple (Cau Duc pineapple), a typical pineapple variety with the Cau Duc pineapple brand that was developed by Hau Giang province (old) many years ago. Pineapple is also one of the main sources of income for Mrs. Thao's family and farmers here. Therefore, Mrs. Thao and many pineapple growers in this area often process the fruit in many batches, avoiding the situation of having a good harvest and losing value.

Ms. Thao shared: “Compared to other plants, growing pineapple does not require much capital investment, and it is less labor-intensive to take care of. As long as the price of pineapple is from 6,000 VND/fruit or more, it is profitable. On average, I harvest a crop every 2 months. With stable prices like the past few years, pineapple farmers will live well.”

The vast pineapple fields are a typical image of the Cau Duc pineapple area. In the photo: Farmers of Hoa Luu commune harvest Cau Duc pineapples to sell to traders.

Currently, Cau Duc pineapples of type 1 (from 1kg and up) are purchased by traders at the farm at a price of 9,000-11,000 VND/fruit. For type 2 pineapples (nearly 1kg/fruit), 2 fruits are counted as 1 type 1 fruit. Smaller ones include type 3 (4 fruits count as 1 type 1 fruit) and type 4 (8 fruits count as 1 type 1 fruit). In addition, people also have additional income from selling pineapple shoots for seedlings.

With pineapples that are not purchased, people often use them to make a variety of dishes. From Cau Duc pineapples, many OCOP products have been created such as pineapple wine, pineapple caramel, pineapple jam, pineapple syrup, etc., contributing to creating more income and solving jobs for rural workers.

In Hoa Luu commune, a value chain has been formed from planting to consuming and processing products from Cau Duc pineapple, thereby actively contributing to the local economic development, being an important driving force to bring the average income per capita of the commune to 74 million VND/person/year by 2024.

Application of science and technology for sustainable development

Thanh Tien Agricultural - Trade and Service Cooperative, in Thanh Quoi 1 Hamlet, Hoa Luu Commune, was established in 2018, with 24 members. After 7 years, the Cooperative now has 39 members, with a cultivation area of over 75 hectares. Since the beginning of the year, the Cooperative has supplied the market with more than 200 tons of pineapples for consumption in provinces and cities across the country. In particular, the Cooperative has always paid attention to the application of science and technology in cultivation to improve the quality of pineapples.

Mr. Tran Van Ba, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director of Thanh Tien Agricultural - Trade and Service Cooperative, said: “In addition to the pineapple areas that have met VietGAP and Global GAP standards, all remaining members of the Cooperative grow pineapples organically. We also apply mechanization in some stages to save costs and time. At the same time, we provide organic fertilizers and biological pesticides for people to cultivate pineapples more sustainably.”

To support Cau Duc pineapple growers, in recent times, many scientific and technological tasks at all levels have been implemented such as "Building and managing the geographical indication "Cau Duc Hau Giang Pineapple" for pineapple products of Hau Giang province"; "Building comprehensive measures to diagnose and manage nutrients and diseases originating from the soil using biological methods for Hau Giang pineapple plants"; "Building a model of applying science and technology and applying Global GAP standards to develop pineapple specialized growing areas in Hau Giang"...

Ms. Nguyen Thi Giang, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Can Tho City, said: “We aim to develop a concentrated Cau Duc pineapple growing area with an area of 3,500 hectares in the coming years. Along with that, we will promote the construction and replication of models applying technical advances, improving the quality of pineapples produced according to GAP standards, associated with growing area codes, traceability, and linking with consuming enterprises. Effectively exploit and promote the advantages of geographical indication certification of Cau Duc pineapples. Research and develop unique services and products from pineapples to serve tourism activities and visitors... to increase income for pineapple growers”.

Article and photos: DANG THU

Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/duoc-mua-khom-cau-duc-a191153.html