Ben Tre is famous for its Xiem coconuts, with some 72,000 hectares of coconut trees producing 600 million coconuts per year. (Photo: VNA)Ben Tre (VNA) – The Mekong Delta province ofBen Tre has employed various measures to boost exports of farm produce,particularly fruits, as shipments of the products have remained modest.
According to Director of the provincial Department ofIndustry and Trade Le Van Khe, the province has conducted market studies toprovide managers an insight into domestic and foreign demand for local fruits andto identify its competitive advantages.
Ben Tre has also restructured the local agriculturesector to make the most of the province’s advantages in farm economy and sea-basedeconomy and at the same time, improve agricultural productivity towards massproduction of high-quality agricultural products for processing and export.
Additionally, the province has zoned off large-scalefarming areas for local fruits like coconut, mango, green-skin and pink-fleshpomelo, rambutan, mangosteen and durian.
It has also helped local enterprises upgrade agriculturaltechnology and promote the use of scientific and technological advancements infarming. It has encouraged processing firms to invest in large-scale farms andexpand links with growers to ensure stable production supply.
Ben Tre is famous for its Xiem coconuts, with some 72,000hectares of coconut trees producing 600 million coconuts per year. Farms withother fruits cover nearly 28,700 hectares with annual output of approximately350,000 tonnes.
According to statistics from the Department of Industryand Trade, though Ben Tre is a regional hub of many tropical fruits likecoconut, most of its fruits have been only exported to the Chinese market insmall volumes for years or sold in the domestic market. Over the past threeyears, the province’s farm produce exports were estimated at 117 million USD,accounting for just 6 percent of its total shipments.
Thanks to the province’s efforts, its fruits have enteredstrict markets like the EU, the US and Canada, especially after local coconutsand green-skin and pink-flesh pomelos were certified with geographicalindications.
The province plans to increase itscoconut’s brand power by creating a network between coconut farmers andbusinesses, reducing the cost of production, providing funding for studyingtechnology and techniques in coconut farming, as well as increasing land for coconutfarming by 20 percent.–VNA
VNA
