Tra Vinh Province Developing Farming Area

In 2007, the total agricultural production value of Tra Vinh Province hit VND4,483 billion, 0.7 per cent higher than the plan and 4.97 per cent higher than a year earlier. Farmers in the province shifted to growing vegetables, short-day industrial crops and fruit trees. Tra Vinh advocated the policy of replacing three rice crops with two rice crops and one vegetable crop. In sandy regions, there will be two vegetable crops and one rice crop, or three vegetable crops. Orchards in Tra Vinh are being developed in both quantity and quality. Orchard area has exceeded 21,000 hectares, and includes Chau Nghe mango, Duong Long Tri tangerine, mangosteen, durian, Nam Roi grapefruit and Lo Ren star fruit. These fruits are profitable for local farmers.

To change crop growing structure, apart from assisting farmers in expanding area, the province’s agricultural authorities also send experts to work with local authorities and farmers associations to develop new farming models and crop varieties. As a result, the vegetable area in Tra Vinh is continuously being expanded. In general, the shift to the new production structure freed up more than 85,000 working days for farmers and increased per capita income by VND2 million per annum. At the same time, the province supplies better quality products to local and outside markets.

 

Key crops in Tra Vinh include Chau Nghe mango, Duong Long Tri tangerine, Nam Roi grapefruit, Lo Ren star fruit and mangosteen. The province has some 600 hectares of Chau Nghe mango, including more than 500 hectares of fruit-bearing area, mainly in Nhi Long and Nhi Long Phu communes, Cang Long District. The outstanding feature of Chau Nghe mango is sweet taste and large size (400-500 g). Chau Nghe mango is a favourite product in both domestic and export markets.

 

Makapuno, a type of coconut with soft meat, is only grown in Cau Ke District where nearly 100 households keep more than 1,500 makapuno trees. On average, each hectare generates VND200 million. The price of this kind of coconut is from VND90,000 to VND140,000 per fruit, about 50 times higher than other types of coconut. This is a highly favoured product and the province is expanding growing area for this kind of fruit.

To be more successful in farming, the Tra Vinh Gardening Association has actively persuaded its members to improve gardens and replace old varieties with more commercial ones. So far, Tra Vinh has improved and planted 26,387.33 hectares of orchards, 11 per cent of its 229,282 hectare area, an increase of 6,628 hectares against 2001. The mango area accounts for 4,255.47 hectares, and Chau Nghe mango 1,017 hectares. Each year, fruit output reaches 170,000-195,000 tonnes, in which mango accounts for 34,043 tonnes, mangosteen 879 tonnes and longan 45,960 tonnes. 

Besides, the province also combines cooperative and farm economic models to enhance the competitiveness of local products and help members and farmers seek new markets. In the past years, Tra Vinh Gardening Association persuaded farmers to set up production teams to apply technological advances and GAP standards to production. So far, the association has 16 fruit growing cooperatives, including the outstanding Chau Nghe mango cooperative and Tan Thanh cooperative. Farming cooperatives and production teams drew 405 members, mainly in Cang Long and Cau Ke districts.

In the development orientation from now to 2010, Tra Vinh Gardening Association targets to finish the garden improvement programme. The association will encourage its members to build orchards meeting GAP criteria to export to more markets. Accordingly, the association focuses to build 3,000 - 4,000 hectares of orchards. In 2009, the province targets to pick 350,000 - 370,000 tonnes of fruit, of which 100,000 - 150,000 tonnes will be exported. Technological applications to production and the gardening-fishery-husbandry model will help improve the living standards of poor ethnic minority people.