A fruit grower in Tien Giang province (Photo: VNA)Tien Giang (VNA) – The Mekong Delta provinceof Tien Giang has replaced rice by fruit trees in over 2,300ha of land sincethe start of the year, said Cao Van Hoa, Acting Director of the provincial Departmentof Agriculture and Rural Development.
The cultivation of fruit trees with high economic valueis part of the province’s efforts to restructure agricultural production towardimproving products’ quality and values.
Tien Giang has zoned off more than 7,000ha in Cai Laydistrict, Cai Lay town and surrounding areas for growing durians. Over 5,000haof dragon fruit trees have been grown in the districts of Cho Gao, Go Cong Tayand Tan Phuoc.
Durian and dragon fruits have become major products ofTien Giang with high export values. Local farmers earned between 800 millionand 1 billion VND (35,200-44,000 USD) per hectare in the recent crop.
Cho Gao dragon fruits and Ngu Hiep durians of theprovince have recently been registered for the collective trademark.
Ngo Van Cung, a farmer in Long Tien commune of Cai Laydistrict, grows durians on an area of 5,000 sq.m. He harvests about 13 tonnesof the fruit each year, raking in around 400 million VND.
To date, Tien Giang has expanded its orchard area tonearly 74,000ha, or 98 percent of theannual plan and a rise of 1.3 percent year-on-year.
According to the provincial Department of Agriculture andRural Development, the locality reaped more than 1.2 million tonnes of fruitssince the beginning of 2017, reaching 86 percent of this year’s plan and up 4.7percent compared to the previous year.-VNA
