Go to durian gardens with lots of delicious fruits hanging everywhere. Whenever you go to Ben Tre, Hau Giang, Can Tho, you will immediately meet billionaires.

Growing durian - changing the way of doing things, helping to increase income

Ms. Nguyen Thi Diem, in Ham Luong hamlet, Tan Phu commune, Chau Thanh district, Ben Tre province, has been growing durian for decades, but her income is only enough to live on, not much left over because spontaneous production leads to high investment costs and low selling prices.

In recent years, she has been encouraged to join Tan Phu Agricultural Cooperative, from which she has been trained in agricultural extension classes, gardening techniques, and access to the VietGAP farming model... From the knowledge she has acquired, she has redesigned her garden to grow Ri6 durian, applying technical solutions supported by the Cooperative and the agricultural sector.

To sell durian at a high price, she and the members of the cooperative process the off-season from September to February; at this time the price fluctuates between 90,000 and 130,000 VND/kg for the Ri6 variety, with a yield of 20 tons/ha; thanks to that, each hectare of durian brings in billions, higher than other types of trees. In the 2024 durian crop, Ms. Diem cultivated 20 hectares, harvested about 24 tons, sold for 90,000 to 130,000 VND/kg, earning about 2.5 billion VND.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Nghia, in Tan Phu commune, said that people here have been growing fruit trees for a long time, but the limitation is that everyone does it their own way and lacks connection, so the efficiency is not high.

Since joining the cooperative, it has helped people change their perspective and way of doing things; change their mindset from agricultural production to agricultural economics , relying on scientific and technical applications for clean, organic production, meeting export needs.

These changes have helped her family's 10-hectare durian garden achieve high productivity, sell at good prices, and earn about 1 billion VND per year, allowing her to send her daughter to school.

Thanks to close cooperation, durian growers in Hau Giang have stable output. Photo: H.THU

Taking us to visit her lush durian garden, Ms. Cao Thi Hanh (Tan Phu commune) shared: "Before, every time the durian tree had a disease like stem cracking or oozing, we could only go to fertilizer stores to buy pesticides and spray them en masse, which was quite costly.

Since joining the cooperative and receiving regular training, people have mastered when to spray pesticides and which type to spray to be effective without affecting the quality of the fruit.

In addition, the cooperative also instructed not to harvest young fruit, but to let the fruit ripen naturally on the tree to ensure sweetness and fatness so that the durian is delicious and meets export standards.

This is also a way to create prestige and brand for Tan Phu Cooperative durian. My family's 15 hectares of durian applying these processes bring in an annual revenue of 1-1.3 billion VND...".

Mr. Pham Van Nghi, in Nhon Xuan hamlet, Mot Ngan town, Chau Thanh A district, Hau Giang province, grew about 4 hectares of Ri6 durian, this is the third harvest, sold nearly 6 tons of fruit, at the price of 55,000 VND/kg, after deducting expenses, he still earned nearly 200 million VND.

According to Mr. Nghi, growing durian requires much more investment and care than other crops to be able to harvest delicious, quality durian. The investment cost for durian trees is also quite high, but most households still make a profit. In particular, thanks to the connection with traders, the output is always stable.

Unite and help each other get rich

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thinh, Director of Tan Phu Agricultural Cooperative, acknowledged: "To have a strong cooperative with many households earning billions as it is today is a process of overcoming difficulties and persistently developing a cooperative economic model in the grassroots women's association organization."

Ms. Thinh recalls that in the past, rural people in this area, like many other places, practiced small-scale, spontaneous agriculture, lacking connections, so product output was unstable. Determined to change production towards modernity, in March 2017, the Ham Luong Hamlet Women's Union established the Ham Luong Hamlet Durian Growing Cooperative with 11 members.

For the Cooperative to operate effectively, Ms. Thinh and her members formed many groups such as technical, harvesting, business, exchange... meeting once a month to discuss and share techniques for growing and caring for durian.

The members of the group also support each other in care and harvesting. In their spare time, members take on hired jobs such as shaping trees, pruning flowers, pollinating, etc. for durian growers outside to increase the cooperative's income.

In August 2020, the Ben Tre Provincial Agricultural Extension Center selected the Ham Luong Hamlet Durian Cooperative to deploy a model of applying scientific and technical advances to improve the productivity and quality of durian to adapt to climate change.

Members are supported with the “4 right” method of caring for durians in terms of fertilizing and spraying “right type, right dose, right time, right way”. In addition, they are also instructed on how to use biological pesticides to care for trees, cultivate according to VietGAP standards, and build green, clean, and beautiful gardens…

Due to effective operations, in December 2020, through the mobilization of the People's Committee of Tan Phu commune, Tan Phu Agricultural Cooperative was established. Initially, the Cooperative had 51 members, now it has increased to more than 300 members, with 320 hectares. The Cooperative also formed 8 service teams to support members in durian cultivation and provide services in many other places.

Up to now, the Cooperative has built 6 durian growing area codes and applied VietGAP production on an area of ​​200 hectares...

“Over the years, the cooperative has cooperated with enterprises to supply input materials at preferential prices to support members, in which organic farming households are supported with 3 million VND/ha/crop; at the same time, it has cooperated with many durian exporting enterprises to sell durian at good prices to members when it is time to harvest…”, Director Nguyen Thi Thinh said.

In parallel with supplying fresh durian to serve the domestic and export markets, Director Nguyen Thi Thinh also thought of deep processing such as frozen durian; processing crispy fried durian, durian spring rolls, durian curry, mixed stir-fried durian... to meet the diverse products on the market, contributing to increasing the value of durian. The Cooperative also built a brand for Tan Phu durian and achieved 4-star OCOP certification...

Recently, the Cooperative traveled to Dong Thap province to learn about the "clubhouse" model, then returned to establish the Tan Phu Clubhouse Club with 50 members, aiming to connect farmers with businesses and functional sectors in durian production; at the same time, organize experiential activities such as planting, caring for, harvesting fruit... to serve tourists who come to visit...

The leader of Tan Phu Commune People's Committee said that the reorganization of agricultural production in a systematic and modern way through a new cooperative model, thanks to which many rural people now have billions of dong in income, is no longer a strange thing...

Ms. Bui Thi Cham, Head of the Women's Union of Truong Tho 2A Hamlet, Director of Truong Tho 2A Fruit Garden Cooperative, Truong Long Commune, Phong Dien District, Can Tho City, said: "In the past, in this area, many women grew fruit trees such as longan, mango, jackfruit... in a fragmented manner, lacking connections, so the income was not high. In 2019, with the encouragement of the functional sectors, we established a cooperative with 28 members.

After that, the cooperative cooperated with the agricultural sector to ask engineers to support and advise on planning and developing specialized areas for high-value durian; at the same time, cooperated with businesses to provide input materials at preferential prices, and consume durian when it was time to harvest, helping people feel secure in production.

In 2024, durian prices will be high, especially in February and March, from 110,000 to 130,000 VND/kg, helping many women earn an income of 1-2 billion VND/ha or more. My family alone is cultivating 5.5 hectares of durian, selling for nearly 1.2 billion VND.

Now, many women participating in the cooperative are very excited about the efficiency brought about by well-organized production, information sharing, and mutual support for development...".

According to the Hau Giang Department of Agriculture, the province has more than 2,500 hectares of durian cultivation, with two popular varieties being Ri6 and monthong. Currently, the area of ​​durian for harvest is about 1,000 hectares, with an average yield of 14-16 tons of fruit per hectare.

In recent years, people tend to convert ineffective crops to durian because of high selling price and attractive profits.

The agricultural sector also recommends that people need to increase the application of technical advances, prevent pests and diseases to increase productivity and fruit quality, as well as link with purchasing enterprises to create stable output.

According to many agricultural experts, durian is a difficult crop, picky about soil and water, and susceptible to weather and pests. If growers lack technical knowledge and plant characteristics and follow trends, the risk of damage will be very high.

According to calculations, the time from planting to harvesting of durian trees is from 4-6 years, the investment cost is large. Therefore, although the economic value of durian trees is bringing high efficiency to gardeners, the functional sector recommends that people need to consider carefully before expanding the durian growing area to avoid the situation of supply exceeding demand, thereby causing significant damage to growers.

Source: https://danviet.vn/vo-vuon-sau-rieng-treo-la-liet-trai-ngon-he-den-ben-tre-hau-giang-can-tho-la-dung-ngay-ty-phu-2024082700200071.htm