Cu Lao Gieng Commune develops fruit trees and eco-tourism

As a pioneer in crop conversion, Cu Lao Gieng commune, An Giang province has basically stopped producing rice, instead, there are green mango gardens full of fruit. From here, the locality has been orienting to apply high technology to develop fruit trees associated with eco-tourism, not only meeting the needs of the people, but also opening up a new direction for local agriculture, contributing to ensuring the ecological environment and increasing income for the people.

Cu Lao Gieng commune orients production development towards applying high technology associated with eco- tourism and community tourism.

Advantages of green-skinned mango

Cu Lao Gieng commune was established on the basis of merging 3 communes: Tan My, My Hiep, Binh Phuoc Xuan. After the merger, the new Cu Lao Gieng commune has a natural area of ​​68.92 km ^2. Being an island commune, surrounded by two branches of the Tien River, the locality has favorable natural conditions for agricultural production.

Identifying green-skinned elephant mango as a product with export potential, since 2010, implementing the policy of shifting crop structure, the communes before the merger have propagated and mobilized people to shift structure to fruit trees, focusing on developing this type of crop. Up to now, the area of ​​fruit trees in the whole commune is about 4,198 hectares (accounting for over 98% of agricultural land), mainly green-skinned elephant mango - a fruit tree that brings in a larger source of income for farmers.

In the trend of increasingly deep international integration, strong competitive pressure requires agricultural products to be produced at low cost, but high quality, and safety certification to be competitive in the market. From that reality, the locality has implemented many activities to support farmers in accessing the market.

Secretary of the Party Committee of Cu Lao Gieng Commune Vo Minh Nang said that in order to consume green-skinned elephant mangoes domestically and export them officially, the locality has focused on educating farmers about the benefits of farming according to good agricultural production practices (VietGAP, Global GAP...), the benefits of having growing area codes and has received consensus from the majority of farmers. Up to now, the whole commune has been granted 32 growing area codes, with a total area of ​​2,944 hectares; VietGAP certification for an area of ​​735 hectares, Global GAP for an area of ​​49.9 hectares.

Developing ecotourism

The locality has also actively promoted and mobilized farmers to join production to increase the value and stabilize the output of fruit trees. Up to now, the whole commune has 3 cooperatives operating in the field of fruit trees, including: Cu Lao Gieng GAP Cooperative, Cho Moi GAP Fruit Cooperative and Con En Cooperative. Of which, Cu Lao Gieng GAP Cooperative has been supported to invest in a solar-powered mango dryer, a cold dryer, and a mango juice pressing line. 2 cooperatives with products certified as OCOP products are Con En Cooperative with green-skinned elephant mango and small-seeded cat mango; and Cho Moi GAP Fruit Cooperative with three-color mango products.

Director of Cu Lao Gieng GAP Cooperative Nguyen Minh Hien said that the Cooperative currently has 51 official members and 243 associate members. In the journey of breakthrough transformation, the unit received support from the GIZ project for a solar mango dryer, a mango vacuum condenser; the SF New Rural Globalization Fund supported a mango dryer, and 1 greenhouse. From there, the Cooperative gradually built a brand for mango processed products such as mango rice paper, dried mango, mango juice, mango jelly, etc. to increase the value of mangoes. Since early 2025, the Cooperative has linked up with companies and exported over 2,000 tons of mangoes to Korea, New Zealand, Australia, the US and China; Cho Moi GAP Fruit Cooperative exported 60 tons to the Korean market.

Mr. Dang Van Phuoc, a member of the cooperative, said that although he only has 5,000 ^square meters of mango trees, thanks to stable output, he still has a good income. "By joining the cooperative, I have access to many new techniques, mango productivity has increased by more than 53% compared to the experienced growing standards, all products are guaranteed, so I feel very secure," Mr. Phuoc shared.

Identifying green-skinned elephant mango as the main crop, Cu Lao Gieng commune orients production development towards applying high technology associated with eco-tourism and community tourism. Mr. Vo Minh Nang said that in the coming time, the locality will continue to propagate and guide farmers to produce according to safety standards so that mangoes can be exported to many different markets. In addition, it will organize training, transfer high-tech agricultural techniques, and transfer new technologies to farmers to increase the value of mangoes.

On the other hand, the commune supports calling on businesses and cooperatives to invest in deep processing technology for products; strengthens trade promotion activities, seeks new consumption markets to find output for products. Besides, continues to build brands and trademarks of agricultural products associated with the place name Cu Lao Gieng. At the same time, proposes the province to include Cu Lao Gieng commune in the general tourism planning to connect with the province's tourist tours, in order to develop ecological agricultural tourism products, experiential tourism associated with fruit gardens to help increase economic value and promote the local image...

Article and photos: PHI DIEP

Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/xa-cu-lao-gieng-phat-trien-cay-an-trai-va-du-lich-sinh-thai-a193406.html