Developing family economy through intercropping macadamia

Thanks to hard work and boldness in intercropping macadamia and coffee trees in a forest garden model, Le Thi Dung and her husband (Phuc Tho 2 village, Tan Ha commune, Lam Ha district, Lam Dong province) have revived their family's economy and have a stable source of income.

The family of Ms. Le Thi Dung (Phuc Tho 2 village, Tan Ha commune, Lam Ha district, Lam Dong province) is known by the people as a good example of production. Previously, on the family's 2-hectare garden, Ms. Dung and her husband only grew Robusta coffee. In 2015, with the support of the locality, Ms. Dung and her husband boldly planted 400 macadamia trees among the coffee. Unexpectedly, the results were very positive, bringing much better productivity and income than before.

According to Ms. Dung, when growing pure coffee, because the family garden is located on a steep hillside, the soil cannot retain moisture and dries quickly. Therefore, although coffee trees are not difficult to care for, she has to spend a lot of effort watering them regularly. Since planting macadamia trees in the coffee garden, one tree coexists with the other, the macadamia - coffee garden grows very well.

Initially, when the macadamia tree was still small, Dung and her husband invested time in caring for it similar to coffee. But as a forestry tree, macadamia grows very quickly, in the second year the tree is tall, its branches spread out to cover a space of 2 hectares of garden hills. In the third year, macadamia begins to bear fruit and the yield gradually increases in the fifth year. The characteristic of macadamia is that it is a forest tree, with very few pests and diseases, suitable for planting as a shade tree, both creating a landscape and reducing weeds, reducing the amount of water for irrigation of coffee. Planting macadamia with coffee increases income but reduces costs, reduces labor, and makes farmers much more leisurely than growing coffee alone.

Hiệu quả bất ngờ với mô hình trồng xen canh mắc ca - cà phê- Ảnh 1. — Growing macadamia trees intercropped with coffee is a great success for Ms. Dung's family.

Ms. Dung said that growing macadamia trees intercropped with coffee is a great success for her family. 400 macadamia trees grow well, creating a large shade area for the garden. Meanwhile, coffee trees prefer diffused light, under the shade of macadamia trees, coffee grows very well, reduces pests and diseases, and has stable productivity. Thanks to intercropping, only in years of severe drought does watering need to be done, but in normal favorable weather, the garden does not need watering and still maintains high humidity. This saves a lot of effort and manpower in the production process.

Currently, Ms. Dung's family's coffee - macadamia garden is in a stable period, with harvests all year round: Macadamia is harvested at the beginning and middle of the year, and coffee is harvested at the end of the year. In 2023, Ms. Dung's family will harvest 4 tons of macadamia nuts and 7 tons of coffee. With a selling price of 100,000 VND/kg of macadamia nuts and 75,000 VND/kg of coffee beans, after deducting expenses, the family will earn over 500 million VND.

Hiệu quả bất ngờ với mô hình trồng xen canh mắc ca - cà phê- Ảnh 2. — After about 3-4 years of planting, macadamia begins to yield harvest.

From her family's experience, according to Ms. Dung's assessment, planting macadamia trees intercropped with coffee in the direction of forest gardens brings very good results for farmers. However, the important thing is that when planting macadamia trees, it is necessary to choose standard varieties, following the instructions of agricultural staff. Because macadamia trees are perennial trees, they only bear fruit after three or four years of planting, so it is necessary to choose standard varieties to avoid low-yield varieties. At the same time, when planting, it is necessary to follow the techniques instructed by agricultural staff, from lowering the top, pruning the tree for horizontal branches to preventing stink bugs properly.

Currently, Dung's family sells macadamia nuts through a partnership with a local agricultural company, so they are quite assured of the output. The macadamia nuts are collected immediately by the company and processed in the shortest time possible, so they are of high quality. Therefore, Dung and her husband have decided to join a long-term partnership to ensure the output for their home garden's macadamia nuts.

Thanks to the model of producing coffee intercropped with macadamia trees in the direction of garden - forest, in recent years, Dung and her husband's income has been very stable. This is a model that Tan Ha commune, Lam Ha district, Lam Dong province encourages farmers to develop because it ensures high income, ensures the environment, and creates beautiful landscapes for the local rural areas.

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