A star apple orchard in Can Tho city’s Phong Dien district (Photo: VNA)A new plan announced by the municipal its People’s Committee also envisagesdevelopment of production codes for fruits, which would help promote brand namesand increase the competitiveness of the fruits to foster exports, focusing onthe domestic market, production of fruit-related products for exports, andattracting tourists to orchards.
To achieve the targets, it has instructed localities to strengthen advocacy tolink up farmers and establish concentrated fruit areas of at least 10ha anddevelop production codes, Deputy Chairman of the Can Tho People’s Committee NguyenNgoc He said.
Local authorities should train their farmers in fruit growing techniques toimprove efficiency, he said.
The city will focus on building flood prevention embankments, warehouses forfruit preservation and irrigation works.
It will create linkages among stakeholders in fruit production to produce inlarge quantities and with high quality to meet the requirements of bothdomestic and export markets.
It has instructed the Department of Industry and Trade and others to carry outtrade promotion activities.
The city has nearly 24,000ha under fruits and an annual output of 170,000tonnes.
Increasingly, its fruit farmers areadopting good agricultural practices (GAP) standards, with 477ha under VietGAPand 37 areas with a total area of 602ha getting production codes.
To get the code, a fruit growing area should be a minimum of 10ha and adoptVietGAP or other equivalent standards.
These, especially areas growing speciality fruits, have been offering higheconomic benefits to farmers in recent years.
Concentrated areas have been established for speciality fruits like milk apple,durian and Burmese grape in Phong Dien district, longan in O Mon and Thoi Laidistricts, and mango in Co Do district.
There are collective brand names like Thoi An Ido longan, Ha Chau Nhon Ai Burmesegrape, Tan Thoi durian, and Truong Xuan A star apple.
The city has also developed tourism around its orchards, especially in Phong Dien,Binh Thuy and Thot Not districts.
In Phong Dien, there are more than 30 of them.
Vo Thanh Giup, director of the Heritage Management, Tourism and Trade PromotionCentre in Phong Dien, said: “Tourists visiting Phong Dien are mostly from thecountry’s central and northern regions. The peak tourism season is summer whenit is the main fruit harvest time.”
Phong Dien, Binh Thuy and Thot Not districts have zoned agricultural areas incombination with eco-tourism development.
The city is seeking investment for its 40ha Phong Dien Ecotourism area toexploit the advantages of rivers and fruit orchards./.
VNA
