In the last 10 years, Farmer Association of An Tay commune in Ben Cat town has encouraged local farmers to switch from growing rice to mangosteen, rubber trees, and apricot. Due to increasing areas of apricot, the association established a cooperative group planting An Tay apricot to support farmers in capital and techniques.
According to Farmer Association’s Vice Chairman Tran Tu, 10 years ago, some gardeners from HCM City developed apricot gardens in the commune. This model brought high economic profits, thus local farmers decided to enhance this model.
Mr. Tran Van Vui and his apricot garden
From initial a few households, the cooperative group has now 20 households with total apricot areas of nearly 10 ha. According to the group’s deputy head Mr. Tran Van Vui, revenue from apricot is 50% higher than rice. Due to apricot planting, living standards of group members have been significantly improved.
During 2014 Tet holidays, the group supplied 18,000 apricot flowerpots to the market, generating a profit of over VND2bln. Meetings are held every 3 months between members to exchange and disseminate new information as well as techniques. The group is planning and preparing to supply 20,00 apricot flowerpots to the market in the 2015 Tet holidays.
Mr. Tu affirmed that apricot planting has been a right direction in the restructuring the current crop. To promote this model, the commune Farmer Association will persuade more farmer to plant apricot, facilitate planting, support capital as well as techniques to improve farmers’ life.
Reported by D.Tuan – Translated by Ngoc Huynh
