Mekong Delta farmers focus on quality  (20-11-2009)
The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, the largest farming area in the country, needs to create stronger brand names to fully tap export potential, according to experts. Despite strong growth in recent years, much more needed to be done to exploit the rich abundance of rice and fruit grown in the area..

Many farmers’ co-operatives are working together to increase production under Global Gap standards. Truong Van Bay, chairman of the My Thanh Agriculture Co-operative in Tien Giang Province’s Cai Lay District, said his co-operative had cultivated 106ha of rice following the Global Gap (Good Agricultural Practice) standard in the last summer-autumn crop, and that he exported many crops to the US and Europe.

The cooperative first used the Global Gap standards in 2003 and became the first in the country to receive the Global Gap certificate for its high quality rice. He said the co-operative planned to expand its rice cultivation area under Global Gap standards to 515ha in 2015, with the participation of 400-600 farmers.

To increase fruit exports, experts said localities should set up fruit cultivation areas, each specialising in a kind of fruit to fulfil large export contracts using Global Gap standards. The delta, which has 355,000ha of fruit trees and accounts for 40 per cent of the country’s total fruit cultivation area, has several special varieties of fruits, including the Ri 6 durian, Chin Hoa durian, Lo Ren star apple, Hoa Loc mango, Chu mango, Cho Gao dragonfruit, small-seeded longan and green-skinned pomelo, according to the Southern Fruit Research Institute.

Prof Nguyen Van Luat, chairman of the Southern Plant Seed Association, said small cultivation areas, uneven size and quality of fruits, and the weakness of post-harvest treatment and distribution systems were major disadvantages for indigenous fruits.

Can Tho City and the delta provinces of Tien Giang, Ben Tre, Dong Thap, Vinh Long, Tra Vinh, Soc Trang and Hau Giang are increasing the cultivation of nine special varieties of fruits in the delta, with an expansion by 18,000ha this year.

The fruits are the green-skinned pomelo, mangosteen, thick-fleshed and small-seed durian, thick-skinned orange, Nam Roi pomelo, Ri.6 durian, Lo Ren star apple and the Hoa Loc mango and dragonfruit.

Each locality develops between one and three kinds of the nine fruits, using advanced farming techniques and high quality seedlings. The localities will plant an additional 7,000ha of special varieties of fruits next year, making the Delta’s total cultivation area under special varieties of fruits to more than 75,000ha and an export target of US$35 million next year.

(Source: VNS)