Link with farmers
Tan Hung is a place where many households specialize in growing custard apples. Trung's family transports custard apples from Tay Ninh to traders at markets in Ho Chi Minh City. In 2008, Trung entered the custard apple business at Thu Duc wholesale market (Ho Chi Minh City) when he was 18 years old.
With a dedicated way of working and a willingness to share difficulties with farmers, Mr. Trung gradually had a stable market. But in 2020, the Covid-19 epidemic broke out and peaked in 2021, a series of custard apple gardens in Tay Ninh suffered losses. The consumption market was disrupted, and the price of custard apples dropped to rock bottom. According to Mr. Trung, because the custard apples were grown in the traditional way, without any connection, they were only sold to traders who brought them to the wholesale market, unable to reach a higher market.
“When the market is passive, prices are therefore unstable,” said Mr. Trung. With the idea of improving the lives of local farmers, in 2022, Mr. Trung established Minh Trung Agricultural Service Cooperative (abbreviated as Minh Trung Cooperative).
From a person who had never done farming before, Mr. Trung joined hands with farmers to grow custard apples. He learned from the experiences of the people, read many technical documents through books, and consulted the practical farming methods of foreign countries. From the knowledge he had, he guided the people to increase the value of custard apples.
In 2024, Mr. Trung also established the Soursop Club. This is a place for farmers to exchange and share experiences with each other; as well as help soursop growers have the opportunity to access the latest knowledge on science and technology, agricultural support policies from the State, scientists, and business people.
Minh Trung Cooperative currently has 7 official members, associated with more than 100 farming households. Thanks to the efforts of members and farmers, the Cooperative's custard apple has become a 4-star OCOP product; 100 hectares of custard apple with an output of 3,000 tons/year are certified by VietGAP; the Cooperative also associates 500 hectares of land to produce safe custard apples and has the Geographical Indication "Ba Den Custard Apple".
For many units, OCOP is the destination. But for Minh Trung, it is just the starting point of a longer journey: the journey of making clean agricultural products. With great passion for custard apple trees, he began to build clean raw material areas, standardizing product quality to target a wider market.
Organic soursop garden
Wishing to encourage people to grow organic custard apples, Trung knew that the farmers' growing habits and cautious mentality were the biggest obstacles. Therefore, he set out to model. Trung established an organic custard apple garden on an area of 2 hectares a year ago. To monitor the techniques in detail, he divided the garden into 8 plots, each plot about 250m² with more than 230 custard apple trees.
With no guidance or available formula, Minh Trung began his journey of growing clean custard apples through self-study. He learned how to compost, identify beneficial bacteria in the soil, and adjust the fertilization process according to each stage of plant growth. And especially, he minimized the use of chemicals in the garden.
To do this, Mr. Trung proactively connected with the Southern Fruit Institute and a number of partner businesses to order biological solutions to control pests and diseases for custard apple trees. All processes are being tested and adjusted by Mr. Trung on each small batch and carefully recorded, as documents for later transfer to the cooperative members. The garden's clean custard apples gradually meet the desired results: beautiful appearance, good weight, and consistent quality.
“After more than a year of pilot implementation, up to now, I have found that the results have achieved about 90% of my expectations. Harvesting a batch of about 2.5 tons. Harvesting a batch every 15 days. But to achieve this result, I have experienced many failures. There were batches of finished fruit that were damaged or cracked. There were times when the plan was not achieved due to weather effects, the fruit did not ripen according to the expected time,” Trung shared.
90% of the garden's current production process is organic. Compared to traditional growing methods, organic soursop growing requires significantly reduced input costs such as fertilizers and chemicals; the soil ecosystem is significantly restored; the plants grow stably, less dependent on growth stimulants.
However, labor costs and care time increase many times, requiring workers to be really patient. “If you only look at immediate profits, it will be easy to give up. But if you look at long-term benefits, you will see that this is the way of farming that everyone should aim for,” Mr. Trung affirmed.
Mr. Trung added that organic care of custard apples is different in many ways. First of all, controlling the density of the tree canopy to limit pests and diseases. Using beneficial microorganisms or self-cultivated native microorganisms to treat fungal diseases is also a key point. In particular, Mr. Trung does not use herbicides, so the custard apple garden always has green grass, keeping the soil moist and creating an environment for beneficial microorganisms to grow.
“More than economic value, organic farming gives me a very special feeling, when I feel the recovery of the land, the return of natural ecosystems. This is shown by the birds choosing to nest on custard apple trees; insects such as worms, crickets, etc. develop. After a year of implementation, I realized that this is the direction that needs to be changed. When the soil is healthy, the trees are healthy, the fruit is also more delicious and of better quality,” Trung confided.
Not only stopping at production, Minh Trung also hopes that the organic custard apple model can be combined with agricultural tourism, bringing interesting experiences to visitors. Currently, the cooperative is completing a model garden in the direction of experience to serve groups of guests or agricultural education groups.
Nowadays, consumers are particularly interested in organic products, clean products, and products with traceable origins. Developing clean custard apples is not only a response to the trend, but also a responsibility to the community. That is also the reason why Mr. Le Minh Trung - a "new generation farmer" aims for.
Hoa Khang - Khai Tuong
Source: https://baotayninh.vn/nong-dan-the-he-moi-lam-mang-cau-theo-cach-moi-a191918.html
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