The Southeast is the region with the second largest cocoa growing area in the country and always ranks first in cocoa output thanks to its advantages in soil and climate. This is also one of the regions that the Department of Agriculture is focusing on developing cocoa cultivation in the coming time.
Expanding raw material areas
In Tay Ninh, although cocoa is not a strange crop, it is only planted sporadically in a few places with small areas, farmers have not yet fully exploited the potential and advantages of this plant.
Recently, the Tay Ninh Cocoa Agriculture and Forestry Cooperative was established in Thanh Phuoc Hamlet, Thanh Binh Commune, Tan Bien District, with Mr. Hoang Hong Hai as Chairman of the Board of Directors (BOD) and Director of the Cooperative, opening up opportunities for cocoa development in the locality.
According to Mr. Hoang Hong Hai, the cooperative consists of 6 members, with production and business activities in the form of agricultural services, specifically: breeding and selling cocoa seeds; planting and caring for cocoa trees; purchasing cocoa fruits; processing cocoa beans; processing products from cocoa trees; planting and caring for forest trees; breeding, buying and selling stingless bees and stingless bee products; producing organic fertilizers; agricultural FarmStay, eco-tourism, selling food, drinks, products from cocoa and stingless bees.
“Through experimental planting on an area of 6 hectares, cocoa trees have grown well, suitable for the climate conditions of Tay Ninh. In the long term, this type of tree can create economic value and stable income for growers; this is also a product that can serve tourism and eco-tourism in the province, on that basis, the Cooperative chose cocoa trees as the main direction for the unit.
Planted since October 2023, after 18 months, the cocoa tree has begun to bear fruit. The cooperative has signed a joint venture contract with Trong Duc Cocoa Company Limited (Dong Nai province), cooperating in the production of seedlings and the purchase of dry beans for the cooperative. It can be affirmed that cocoa trees have good development potential because the leaves can be used to make tea, and the beans are used as raw materials for chocolate production" - Mr. Hoang Hong Hai, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director of the cooperative added.
In the coming time, the Cooperative will expand the raw material area in Tay Ninh, providing seedlings up to 100 hectares/year. The Cooperative will sign contracts to purchase fresh fruit from farmers or associated members of the Cooperative, then process it into dry seeds to supply to the processing factory.
Mr. La Huu Nghi - Chairman of the Tay Ninh Province Cooperative Union said that currently, there are 188 cooperatives in the province, including 18 People's Credit Funds and 14 transport cooperatives, the rest are mostly in the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors.
The Cocoa Agriculture and Forestry Cooperative is the first cocoa growing cooperative in the province. Through the production and business plan as well as the cooperative establishment project, it can be seen that the efficiency that cocoa brings is very large. Currently, our country meets more than 30% of the world cocoa market, the orientation of cocoa development in the province is completely appropriate, helping participants to be attached to the production chain in a sustainable way, bringing a stable source of income for cooperative members.
Farmers - "suppliers"
That is what Mr. Dang Tuong Khanh - Director of Trong Duc Cocoa Company Limited (Dong Nai) said when asked about his experience in developing cocoa trees in the locality. Mr. Khanh said that farmers in the new era, before planting any tree or raising any animal, have carefully studied the cultivation and breeding process, they have a certain amount of knowledge to produce good, quality products to meet the needs of consumers. Therefore, let's call them "suppliers".
In 2015, Trong Duc Cocoa Company Limited (in Phu Hoa Commune, Dinh Quan District) was the pioneer enterprise of Dong Nai to implement a large-scale cocoa field project linking production with consumption. To date, the project has developed more than 700 hectares of cocoa in Dong Nai and some neighboring provinces and cities.
Trong Duc Cocoa Company Limited has invested millions of USD in processing factories and raw material areas. In addition to exporting raw cocoa beans, the company currently has nearly 30 deeply processed products such as chocolate, cocoa liquor, cocoa powder... which are consumed well in the domestic market and many typical products have been voted by consumers as High Quality Vietnamese Goods.
Many products of this enterprise have achieved 4-star OCOP, not only consumed well domestically but also exported to demanding markets such as Japan, Korea... This enterprise is also the investor of a large cocoa field project in Dong Nai; at the same time, investing in raw material areas in many other provinces and cities with a total raw material area of thousands of hectares.
Realizing that Tay Ninh is suitable for developing cocoa growing areas, Trong Duc Cocoa Company Limited signed a joint venture contract with Tay Ninh Cocoa Agriculture and Forestry Cooperative, initially forming a closed-chain production area from planting, processing, and exporting cocoa in a sustainable direction, bringing high economic efficiency.
Sharing about the plan to develop cocoa growing areas in the future, Mr. Dang Tuong Khanh - Director of Trong Duc Cocoa Company Limited (Dong Nai) commented, The company wants to develop cocoa trees so that this tree is included in the forestry group, because only forestry trees can have large areas, give large output and attract large investors. Because the manufacturing and processing industry is still young, it cannot go as fast as Europe, to burn the stage, we must work together to create a large volume of goods.
Mr. Hoang Hong Hai - Chairman of the Board of Directors, Director of Tay Ninh Cocoa Agriculture and Forestry Cooperative said that cocoa can be harvested all year round, but farmers usually only harvest for 9 months, the remaining 3 months of the rainy season are the time to care for and nurture the plants. Therefore, this crop has high productivity, growers do not worry about crop failure, loss of income like crops that only harvest once a year.
Cocoa trees are less affected by the weather, so the risk of crop failure is not high. What is special is that cocoa trees are easy to grow and grow strongly, so in difficult times, when gardeners do not invest much or when drought occurs, the trees have yellow leaves, wilted leaves, and decreased productivity, but when cared for again, the trees still recover well.
In addition, cocoa farmers need to pay attention to producing safe products that meet export standards. Since implementing the large cocoa field project, Trong Duc Cocoa Company Limited has supported cocoa farmers to produce UTZ certified cocoa - a sustainable farming program worldwide. To date, the country has nearly 370 hectares of UTZ certified cocoa. Of which, Dong Nai is the leading locality and has the largest UTZ certified cocoa area in the country with more than 200 hectares.
“Tay Ninh Cocoa Agriculture and Forestry Cooperative was established to improve product quality, gradually promote production linkage and product consumption for members according to the value chain, aiming at sustainable development of agriculture based on planning of raw material sources according to market demand.
The company will organize training courses for people to help them do better and easier than they do now; we must talk about economic efficiency, domestic and foreign market demand, helping members of the cooperative understand the benefits of participating in the production linkage model. Only then can the cocoa cooperative in Tay Ninh develop in a sustainable direction" - Director Trong Duc Cocoa Company Limited shares.
Hoang Yen - Nhi Tran
Source: https://baotayninh.vn/phat-trien-vung-trong-ca-cao-tai-tay-ninh-a188393.html
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