Growing ‘giant’ Custard apple has earned thousand dollar
QUANG NINH – The coriander seed in Dong Trieu town produces 0.5-1 kg of fruit and is purchased for up to
From the barren land, farmers in Nho Quan, and Ninh Binh grow Custard apple green areas of land “dogs eat rocks, chickens eat gravel”. The harvest, the price, the profit of hundreds of millions of dong per crop, the people are as happy as winning the lottery.
Phu Long commune, Nho Quan district, Ninh Binh province belongs to mountainous terrain. Most of the farming area of the people is sandy soil, gravel soil mixed with exposed rock, barren. Production of this type of soil is very difficult. Therefore, this land is called “dog eats stone, chicken eats gravel”.
Mr. Nguyen Van Thuat, Head of hamlet 4, Phu Long commune, shared that people have brought many varieties of plants such as corn, potatoes, cassava, sugarcane, and pineapple to grow in this arid, rocky land, but all have failed or been effective. very low, loss.
Having worked as the head of agricultural cooperatives for 10 years, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Phuong (85 years old) confided: “There is productive land, but farming is inefficient, many people abandon their fields. There are not many people interested in farming. agriculture, find other jobs to make a living”.
It was thought that the land of “dogs eating rocks, chickens eating gravel” Phu Long would be deserted forever, making people unable to escape poverty. Nearly 10 years ago, a few households here brought the (Custard apple) tree to plant to prevent soil erosion and green the hilly land.
“Who expected the custard apple tree to take root and grow quickly in this barren land. After only 3-4 years, the tree has produced many fruits, very juicy. Turns out, only the custard apple tree likes this land. This is it. Trees help Phu Long farmers get out of poverty,” recalled Mr. Nguyen Dinh Quy, a representative of the Phu Long off-season cooperative management board.
Mr. Quy further shared, since then, the area of custard apples in the locality has increased with each crop. Up to now, in Phu Long, there are over 150 hectares of specialized cultivation of Custard apple.
“Phu Long off-season co-operative was established in June 2020, and currently has 35 member households. Small households grow 1.5ha, and many households up to 5-7ha. In the whole Phu Long commune, any land can be grown (Custard apple). are the people who planted the hills, “- Mr. Quy said.
These days, when returning to Phu Long commune, people are as excited and happy as Tet because Custard apple is in the middle of the harvest season. The season is good, the price is good, people are as happy as winning the lottery.
Mr. Nguyen Van Trang owns more than one hectare of custard-apple trees. Each hectare can grow from 750-800 custard-apple trees. “The area of custard apple in my family has been harvested for 2 years. Each custard apple tree produces 12-15 kg of fruit, about 15 tons of fruit per hectare,” said Mr. Trang.
The owner of the garden calculates that, with the current purchase price at the garden from 40-45 thousand / kg (big size 3-4 fruits / kg), a hectare of custard apple, his family earns hundreds of millions of dollars. copper.
“I didn’t expect it to be so effective. Before there was no custard-apple tree, our people here thought that this land of “dogs eat rocks and chickens eat gravel” was only left untouched all year round. economic efficiency from 20 to 25 times compared to traditional crops “- Mr. Trang confided.
Currently, the fruit of the people of Phu Long commune has been recognized as a 4-star OCOP product in Ninh Binh province (December 2021). So the output of custard apple is quite stable.
In particular, the people here know that because of the off-season fruit, the selling price is very high, every year the households who grow custard apples earn more than half a billion dong thanks to the custard apple tree.
