Tan Phuoc District: Prospects from MD2 pineapple

(ABO) Pineapple is the main crop of Tan Phuoc district, Tien Giang province. After many years of using Queen pineapple, Quyet Thang Agricultural Cooperative (Tan Lap 2 commune, Tan Phuoc district) has gradually switched to growing MD2 pineapple with many outstanding advantages, such as: large fruit, less fiber, sweet, thornless, high yield... In particular, MD2 pineapple has a long shelf life of 30 to 45 days, meeting the conditions for export.

Quyet Thang Agricultural Cooperative inspects and selects MD2 pineapples for domestic consumption and export to Korea.

Quyet Thang Agricultural Cooperative selects and packages MD2 pineapples for domestic consumption and export.

Initially, Quyet Thang Agricultural Cooperative only planted 8 hectares of experimental crops and 2 hectares of MD2 pineapple propagation. After signing a contract with Unifarm Company with stable output, the Cooperative expanded the area of planting and propagating MD2 pineapple to 20 hectares. Mr. Nguyen Anh Khoa, Director of Quyet Thang Agricultural Cooperative, said that from the beginning of 2023, the Cooperative has cooperated with businesses to export MD2 pineapple. From March 2023 to now, Quyet Thang Agricultural Cooperative has regularly supplied about 9 tons of MD2 pineapple every week to businesses exporting to the Middle East and Dubai markets. For the domestic market alone, the Cooperative supplies 5 tons of MD2 pineapple every week to supermarkets and shopping centers.

According to Mr. Nguyen Anh Khoa, Director of Quyet Thang Agricultural Cooperative, currently, the weekly export demand for MD2 pineapple to the markets of Korea and the Middle East (Dubai, Qatar) is about 50 - 60 tons, but the cooperative still does not have enough output to supply. The cooperative is expanding the MD2 pineapple growing area. However, according to Mr. Khoa's calculations, the investment cost to switch to growing MD2 pineapple from the time of purchasing seedlings to harvesting is nearly 300 million VND per hectare. Meanwhile, MD2 pineapple is very difficult to propagate, so seedlings of this type of pineapple are quite expensive, about 3,800 VND/seedling. Therefore, many cooperative members are still hesitant to switch to growing MD2 pineapple.

Quyet Thang Agricultural Cooperative selects and packages MD2 pineapples for domestic consumption and export.

However, according to members of Quyet Thang Agricultural Cooperative, they have switched to growing MD2 pineapple variety. Although the initial investment cost is high, in return, MD2 pineapple variety has few pests and diseases, high yield, stable output with high selling price. Ms. Nguyen Thi Luom, a member of Quyet Thang Agricultural Cooperative, said that previously, her family grew Queen pineapple but the yield was low and the price was unstable. Therefore, when seeing that the cooperative grows MD2 pineapple with high yield, stable output at high price and has export prospects, her family boldly switched to investing in growing MD2 pineapple which currently has a fairly stable income.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Khoa, Director of Quyet Thang Agricultural Cooperative, added that it is expected that by the end of August 2023, Quyet Thang Agricultural Cooperative will export about 18 tons of MD2 pineapple to the Korean market. Cooperative members are focusing on bagging fruit and packing boxes to prepare for export. However, Quyet Thang Agricultural Cooperative is currently facing difficulties in developing raw material areas, investing in factory construction, post-harvest preservation and processing technology, packaging, etc. to meet export standards. Therefore, the Cooperative is in great need of support from all levels and functional sectors to remove obstacles and difficulties that the Cooperative is facing to develop production, business, and consumption of agricultural products, especially in exporting MD2 pineapple, which promises many prospects.

According to Chairman of Tan Lap 2 Commune People's Committee Pham Kien Nhan, Quyet Thang Agricultural Cooperative is one of the pioneering cooperatives in applying science and technology to production, finding new varieties suitable for local soil conditions, as evidenced by the fact that the cooperative has invested in developing the MD2 pineapple growing area, initially bringing positive economic results. Compared to Queen pineapple, the cost of fertilizer and pesticides for growing MD2 pineapple will be less, the yield and selling price are both high, the output is stable, especially there are many export prospects, bringing stable income to farmers.

VAN THY

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