Promoting the economic potential of gardens associated with ecotourism

Tan Qui 1 island gardeners harvest green beans intercropped in newly converted jackfruit garden.

During the two resistance wars against France and the US, An Phu Tan commune and the communes along Hau River in Tra Vinh province formed an important revolutionary base in the Northwest of Tra Vinh province and the Southwest of Vinh Long province. This is the workplace and residence of many cadres of the Regional Party Committee and Military Region. Currently, the commune has 55 mothers who were posthumously awarded the title of “Heroic Vietnamese Mother”, 164 people participating in revolutionary activities and 448 families of war invalids and martyrs…

Comrade Dieu Thanh Tung, Chairman of An Phu Tan Commune People's Committee, said: in the construction of new rural areas, advanced new rural areas and model new rural areas have contributed greatly to changing the appearance of the commune, the people's lives have been constantly improved; especially the local infrastructure has been completely invested; in which, Tan Qui islet area has been built and developed into an eco-tourism garden area, the dike system is closed, proactively responding to climate change...

Currently, the whole commune has nearly 1,400 hectares of fruit gardens, with an output of over 52,000 tons of various fruits/year; including many specialty fruit trees such as durian, rambutan, mangosteen, etc. In addition, the commune has also developed more than 200 hectares of coconut trees converted from ineffective rice fields and mixed gardens. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, the production value in the agricultural - forestry - fishery sector reached 376 billion VND, reaching 41.9% of the annual plan, up 9.33% over the same period. Tourism activities attracted more than 4,000 visitors, with estimated revenue of over 2 billion VND.

Implementing production conversion, in 2024, gardeners in Tan Qui 1, Tan Qui 2, An Trai, Dinh An hamlets will strongly switch to growing fruit trees such as coconut, Thai jackfruit, red-fleshed jackfruit, durian, etc.

Gardener Dong Thi Mai Linh, Tan Qui 2 hamlet, said: In recent years, the lives of gardeners on the island have developed; fruit products have good prices and community tourism activities continue to have many advantages. In particular, the infrastructure of the island has been invested quite completely; traffic axes are connected and spread throughout the island with asphalt roads (3.5m wide) and roads (03m)... The family alone has 0.9ha of garden land converted to grow Thai jackfruit; of which, 0.5ha specializes in jackfruit trees, the remaining area is intercropped with other fruit trees. With an average yield of 70 - 80 tons of fruit/ha/year and the current price of jackfruit fluctuates between 25,000 - 30,000 VND/kg; jackfruit growers are very excited, bringing in an income of 10,000 - 15,000 VND/kg.

Gardener Ho Van Sau Nho, Tan Qui 1 hamlet said: his family has 0.9ha of rambutan (170 trees), the last fruit crop, reached about 25 tons/ha. With rambutan prices remaining at a fairly high level, from 15,000 - 20,000 VND/kg; gardeners have a fairly high income (about 200 million VND/ha), so the focus on renovating and taking care of the orchard is of interest to gardeners for better investment; in addition to income from fruit trees, gardeners on the island also combine serving tourists who come to visit the orchard.

According to comrade Dieu Thanh Tung, in addition to deploying investment capital in production conversion (garden economy ), the commune is also interested in investing in community tourism development by the district, through investing in projects such as Tan Qui island asphalt road (6km long / 26 billion VND). Establishing Tan Qui island community tourism cooperative group led by women, tourism services including wax coconut coffee, traditional cakes, visiting fruit gardens, country dishes ... attract about 300 visitors every week. By the end of 2024, the commune's poor households will be 0.71%; average income per capita will reach over 85 million VND/person/year and the number of households with income from good to rich will account for 58.55% (equivalent to 1,822 households).

Article and photos: HUU HUE

Source: https://www.baotravinh.vn/xay-dung-nong-thon-moi/xa-an-phu-tan-phat-huy-tiem-nang-kinh-te-vuon-gan-voi-du-lich-sinh-thai-45320.html