On the occasion of Lunar New Year, the demand for custard apple consumption increased, gardeners and cooperatives in the province prepared very early for the Tet custard apple crop, actively took care of the trees, and applied safe production processes to ensure the quality of the fruit to serve consumers.
Developing soursop sales channels on digital platforms
In the days leading up to Tet, workers of Minh Trung Agricultural Service Cooperative (Tan Hung Commune, Tan Chau District) are busy harvesting, packaging, and transporting custard apples to deliver to customers. Previously, custard apple trees only bore fruit once a year, but since applying science and technology to fertilization, farmers have made the trees bear fruit all year round, meeting consumer demand. In particular, custard apples are also harvested in large quantities during the Lunar New Year, thereby bringing high profits to gardeners and income to many workers.
Minh Trung Agricultural Service Cooperative has more than 100 hectares of custard apple trees according to VietGAP standards. In addition, the Cooperative also cooperates in production and purchase of products with 130 households growing custard apples in Tan Hung, Tan Phu, Tan Hoi communes (Tan Chau district) and other districts of Tay Ninh province. The entire custard apple area of the Cooperative is produced according to safety standards, and the fruit is covered to prevent insects.
Mr. Le Minh Trung - Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Cooperative said that the unit has 600 hectares of cooperative soursop growing areas, the harvest area this Tet season is about 120 hectares, the output is more than 100 tons. There are some soursop gardens that will be harvested before or after Tet because it depends on the climate in the days before Tet.
This year, the price of large custard apples ranges from 60,000 to 70,000 VND/kg. The cooperative supplies to markets from Hanoi to Ca Mau, each province has level 1 and level 2 agents, clean fruit store chains, etc.
"However, this year there were logistics problems due to new circulars and new laws, so transportation units moved slowly, leading to traffic jams and late deliveries, affecting the delivery and receipt of goods during the Tet holiday season, leading to transportation units starting to increase prices.
Due to time and speed constraints, buyers in the provinces are also limited, hesitant, and hesitant. To overcome the above situation, I have contacted Viettel Post to cooperate in transportation, hoping to deliver custard apples to consumers in time for this Tet holiday" - Mr. Trung shared.
In particular, Minh Trung Cooperative is applying livestream (live broadcast) to sell products on digital platforms, to promote and introduce products to consumers.
“I find selling on digital platforms very convenient, each livestream reaches a large number of viewers, however, there are still many shortcomings in the livestream process, because I have only been practicing for about a week. I hope to develop sales channels on these platforms, because this is a very potential channel" - Mr. Trung said.
Farmers are excited about the harvest
According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD), currently, there are 4 groups of custard apple varieties that are commonly grown. However, only the group of tough custard apple varieties is popular with people due to its high yield, good quality, and ability to be consumed domestically and exported. Custard apples can be propagated asexually and sexually. In production, the method of propagation by seeds is still widely applied by people due to low cost, and plants grown from seeds are relatively uniform compared to some other fruit trees. Grafting is rarely applied due to its difficulty and high cost.
However, soursop gardens grown by asexual propagation need attention to create purebred gardens to help stabilize productivity, good and uniform quality, and meet requirements during product consumption.
In addition to focusing on cultivation, the production linkage between enterprises and cooperatives in the area has helped to expand the production and consumption of custard apples. Up to now, Ba Den Tay Ninh custard apples are not only consumed strongly domestically but also have the potential to be exported to international markets, especially countries with high requirements for product quality such as China, Japan and Korea.
The increased income from growing custard apples of Tay Ninh people has contributed to stabilizing the economy of many households, creating conditions for further investment in production and improving the quality of life.
The custard apple orchard of Mr. Pham Minh Son's family (Tan Thanh Hamlet, Tan Hung Commune, Tan Chau District) is being harvested on an area of 2 hectares. Mr. Son said that he started harvesting on December 23 and finished on December 28. This year, the quality of the custard apples is better than previous years, with prices ranging from 50,000 to 60,000 VND/kg; on average, 1 hectare yields about 11 to 12 tons, requiring 5 to 6 workers.
The weather this year is favorable, however, the custard apples are slow to bloom in the last few months of the year due to cold weather. Mr. Son hopes that this year's prices will be "slightly" higher than previous years so that farmers can have a warm Tet with their families.
During Tet, picking custard apples also helps many people earn extra income. “I work from 5am to 10am, from one garden to another, working for many drivers, after the morning shift I continue working from 11am to 5-6pm; during Tet I work all night, my salary is double the usual. Thanks to Tet, the income from picking custard apples helps me pay for household expenses, buy cakes and jams for Tet” - Ms. Le Thi Hong Phuong, resident of Thanh Loi hamlet, Thanh Tan commune shared.
According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, in order to preserve and develop indigenous custard apple varieties with high economic value, protect biodiversity and genetic resources, and contribute to the development of the Tay Ninh custard apple brand, the Department has coordinated with the People's Committees of districts, towns and cities in the province to register with the competent authority to recognize the special circulation of custard apple varieties in Article 16 of the Law on Cultivation. Thereby, the indigenous custard apple variety (twisted cotton, straight cotton) of Tay Ninh province has been allowed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to be specially circulated in Decision 326/QD-TT-CCN dated July 8, 2024 of the Department of Crop Production on the recognition of special circulation of plant varieties, for the custard apple variety of Tay Ninh province, the nationwide circulation code is CNLH.2024.76 . This is a new step forward in the development of Tay Ninh's varieties, creating seedlings with clear origin, improving the productivity and quality of custard apple products. |
Hoang Yen
Source: https://baotayninh.vn/mang-cau-tay-ninh-vao-vu-tet-a185276.html
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