Mr. Nguyen Van Sau next to his family's cocoa tree intercropped with coconut.
In 2005, Mr. Nguyen Van Sau planted 300 cocoa trees in the coconut garden of the province's 10,000-hectare cocoa project, with a support price of 7,000 VND/tree. In 2020, severe drought and salinity in the province killed more than 100 of his cocoa trees. To cope with the drought and salinity, Mr. Sau mobilized relatives to build dikes and hire water pumps, at a cost of 3.5 million VND, for year-round irrigation. About 3 months ago, Mr. Sau bought 100 more cocoa trees to replant in the places where the trees died due to drought and salinity, at a price of 17,000 VND/tree. He also deployed a bundle of branches, with about 100 branches in the rooting stage, to expand the empty spaces in his garden.
On an area of 3 hectares of land, Mr. Sau grows coconuts. When the coconuts grow and develop stably, Mr. Sau intercrops cocoa in the space between 2 coconut trees. When the cocoa trees bear fruit, he sells the fruit to a nearby purchasing warehouse at 5.5 thousand VND/kg. On average, he earns more than 2 million VND/month from harvesting cocoa. He also harvests 300 - 400 coconuts/batch (1.5 months), helping to increase his family's income.
Cocoa bears fruit all year round, but when it rains, the soil becomes moist, creating favorable conditions for the tree to flower and bear fruit. On average, Mr. Sau fertilizes cocoa with a mixture of NPK 20-20-15 and Urea twice a year, at the beginning and end of the year, about 1.5 bags per batch (30kg/bag). In addition, depending on the amount of processed manure (pig manure), Mr. Sau fertilizes cocoa and coconut once a year. Every 3-4 months, Mr. Sau trims the tops and removes the bushy branches so that the tree can receive light to grow and develop well.
“Cocoa trees are easy to grow and bring a stable income, so I keep growing them and absolutely do not cut them down. In my opinion, growing cocoa trees in coconut gardens is a sustainable development step in the face of market price fluctuations,” Mr. Sau shared.
Vice President of the Farmers' Association of Phuoc My Trung Town, Tran Van Men, said: Locally, cocoa is widely grown but the area is very small and the quantity is small. Mr. Nguyen Van Sau still maintains growing cocoa intercropped with coconut, creating a stable income.
Article and photos: Le De
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