Up to now, the area of specialty trees planted by Mr. Chanh's family has increased to 70 hectares of land specializing in wax coconut cultivation. This is not only thanks to the diligence in cultivation but also because wax coconut brings high economic value...
One wax coconut is worth ten dry coconuts.
Cau Ke District, Tra Vinh Province is considered the capital of wax coconut trees, with an area of 1,145 hectares, the average annual output of the district is over 3 million fruits.
With a selling price many times higher than that of regular coconuts, it brings very high economic efficiency to people, significantly improving the income of more than 2,000 households growing wax coconuts in Cau Ke district, of which Khmer ethnic households account for over 70%.
Mr. Thach Chanh (Chong No 2 Hamlet, Hoa Tan Commune, Cau Ke District) is one of many old farmers who have become quite rich thanks to wax coconut trees. He said: Previously, with 4 hectares of rice land, he still lacked food and clothing, and sometimes had to borrow rice from his neighbors to eat. However, after 3 years of switching from rice land to wax coconut trees, the first batch of fruits sold for 35,000-45,000 VND/fruit, earning over 100 million VND.
Mr. Thach Chanh shared and said happily, "Seeing that, I started to transfer another hectare of land to expand the area. Thanks to the high economic value of wax coconut, every few years I transfer a few more hectare of land. Up to now, there are over 70 hectare of land specializing in wax coconut cultivation."
Mr. Thach Cong, a farmer growing specialty wax coconuts in Cau Ke district, Tra Vinh province, always smiles because his monthly income from his coconut garden is about 20 million VND.
Seeing his brother Thach Chanh's effective farming, Mr. Thach Cong also switched to growing wax coconuts. Currently, his cultivated land area has increased to 7 hectares.
Despite his success today, he still had many doubts in the early days of planting the original wax coconut, because "he received a lot of gossip about his foolishness, because not many people planted this type of coconut.
Some people advised him to cut down the wax coconut trees to plant regular coconut trees because traders rarely buy them, but he was determined to keep the wax coconut garden.
Over time, he has proven to everyone that “A wax coconut is worth ten dry coconuts. When the value of wax coconuts became widely known, the selling price skyrocketed 10 times higher than normal coconuts. Thanks to that, I earn a big profit every year,” Mr. Cong said and showed us his spacious house, even the household items are all thanks to the wax coconut garden.
Deputy Director of Hoa Tan Wax Coconut Cooperative (Cau Ke District) Pho Thuc Han often jokes: "Although Mr. Thach Cong is 67 years old, he looks 10 years younger. Because he always smiles brightly, every month he earns over 20 million VND from his wax coconut garden."
According to Ms. Han, wax coconuts have a particularly high and stable value. While the price of regular coconuts sometimes drops to 3,000 VND per fruit and is very difficult to sell, the price of grade 1 wax coconuts always fluctuates at 100,000 VND per fruit and is in high demand. Currently, the cooperative purchases wax coconuts from local people, thereby helping farmers consume over 2 million wax coconuts each year, helping them increase their income and become quite rich, Ms. Han said.
Ms. Han added: "While in 2005 the area was only 43 hectares in the whole province, now it has increased significantly to 1,277 hectares in the whole province, of which the most concentrated is in Cau Ke district, the rest are scattered in Tra Cu, Cang Long, Tieu Can districts, and Tra Vinh city".
Expanding growing areas, improving value chains
According to Ms. Han, 100 years ago, the first wax coconut tree was brought from Cambodia by monk Thach So to plant in Cau Ke area.
Due to its suitability to the local climate and soil, the coconut tree produces waxy fruit and has become a specialty only found in Cau Ke and other districts in Tra Vinh province. In appearance, it is no different from a normal coconut, but inside is a thick, soft, and flexible layer of waxy coconut flesh that covers most of the fruit, along with a little bit of thick coconut water.
However, in order to increase the value of wax coconut and products processed from wax coconut and have a sustainable domestic and international consumption market, Deputy Director of Vicosap (Tra Vinh province) Lam Ngoc Tu suggested that there should be more practical policies in attracting investment and supporting businesses, creating links for sustainable development of coconut and wax coconut product chains; improving the competitiveness of small and medium enterprises in the coconut industry; especially developing concentrated coconut material areas according to VietGAP and organic standards associated with processing factories of businesses and target markets.
Vice Chairman of Tra Vinh Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Trung Hoang said that in the strategy to upgrade the coconut value chain in the 2022-2025 period, the province will develop an additional 550 hectares of specialty wax coconut.
The province has set out directions to build the Tra Vinh wax coconut brand, including applying advanced breeding technology, especially embryo-cultured and tissue-cultured coconut varieties with high wax content, to improve productivity and product quality. In particular, expanding the wax coconut growing area to create a rich source of raw materials, sufficient to supply many domestic and international markets.
In addition, planning and investing in infrastructure for growing areas, expanding organic farming and production, as well as supporting the construction of local purchasing and processing facilities to reduce transportation costs and increase product value.
Mr. Le Van Han, Chairman of Tra Vinh Provincial People's Committee, said: In August 2012, Cau Ke wax coconut was officially listed as one of the 50 famous fruit specialties of Vietnam (according to the Vietnam Record Book Center). The Intellectual Property Office has just issued a Certificate of registration of geographical indication for Tra Vinh wax coconut products.
From wax coconut, the province has 3 products achieving 3-star OCOP; 7 products achieving 4-star OCOP; 3 products achieving 5-star potential OCOP including: pure wax coconut candy, pandan wax coconut candy, cocoa wax coconut candy and 1 product achieving 5-star OCOP which is fiber wax coconut.
Source: https://danviet.vn/day-la-cay-dua-sap-thap-te-da-ra-trai-qua-troi-o-tra-vinh-dan-he-be-xuong-la-ban-het-veo-hut-hang-20240919210804107.htm
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