Although Huong Hoa district has implemented many solutions to overcome difficulties for Huong Hoa banana trees such as granting 9 growing area codes (MSVT) on banana trees (exported to the Chinese market); encouraging and supporting businesses to invest in planting and processing products from banana trees... but currently, the area of growing honey mold bananas in the district is gradually decreasing; banana growers do not invest in sustainable intensive farming to improve productivity, output, and quality of banana products to meet export standards; Huong Hoa bananas are mainly consumed domestically with unstable prices...
Tissue culture banana growing model in Tan Long commune, Huong Hoa district - Photo: HA
Although quite tired after a day of weeding and cutting down fallen banana trees in a banana garden of more than 500 trees, Mr. Nguyen Tam (59 years old) in Long Phung village, Tan Long commune, Huong Hoa district still took some time to explain the ups and downs of the banana tree that his family has been attached to for decades.
Mr. Tam said that the soil and climate conditions of Tan Long commune and some neighboring communes are very suitable for growing the honey-mold banana variety, so the yield and output always reach an average of 13 - 14 tons/ha/year. That was about 10 - 15 years ago, when the honey-mold banana was planted on newly reclaimed and restored land.
Over time, many banana gardens in Tan Long commune have been planted for many years without being fertilized or watered, so their productivity and output have decreased. Like his family, more than 20 years ago, they planted about 1,000 banana trees in the hilly area of Long Phung village. In the first 10 years, the banana trees always gave high productivity and output, earning tens of millions of VND each year.
Over the past 10 years, the number of banana trees, the yield and the quality of his family's banana garden have gradually decreased and now there are only about 500 trees with an income of 3 - 4 million VND/month. During the Lunar New Year, his family had almost no bananas to sell. The reason is that his family's banana garden was grown in the traditional way, growing naturally without care. For nearly 20 years, every day, Mr. Tam has gone to check the banana garden and cut down the broken trees, leaving the young trees to continue growing on the same nutrient-poor soil...
Chairman of Tan Long Commune People's Committee Vo Van Cuong said that up to now, the total area of planting bananas in the commune is 750 hectares, accounting for nearly 40% of the area of bananas in Huong Hoa district. If previously, the yield of bananas was 13 - 14 tons/ha/year, now it has decreased to about 8 - 9 tons/ha/year.
In addition to the reason that people mainly grow bananas on upland and hilly land, which depends entirely on soil quality and climate, and they hardly invest in fertilizing or watering, the consumption of fresh bananas is unstable and depends heavily on the Chinese and Thai markets, so there are times when the price of bananas drops very low, only about 2,000 - 3,000 VND/kg on weekdays, and 8,000 - 10,000 VND/kg on holidays and Tet, so many banana growers are not interested in taking care of their banana gardens.
In fact, the banana tree has been growing for decades and has become the main crop of Huong Hoa district. Up to now, the banana growing area of the district is 3,048 hectares, of which 2,916.3 hectares are harvested with an estimated output of 42,053.2 tons/year, concentrated in the communes of Lia, Tan Long, Tan Thanh, Lao Bao town and a part of the area is rented by local people to grow in Laos.
In recent years, a number of enterprises in the district have invested in growing and processing bananas such as: Long Viet Food Production Company Limited, Green Globe Company Limited, Chanh Nhung Vacuum Banana Processing Facility... with a total consumption and processing output of about 20,100 tons of bananas/year. There are 3 products processed from bananas that meet 3-star OCOP standards: Huong Hoa honey-moldy banana wine, dried bananas, and Chanh Nhung dried bananas. In addition, the district has also made efforts to grant MSVT on banana trees to banana growers in the communes of Lia, Tan Long, Tan Thanh, and Lao Bao town.
The whole province (including Huong Hoa district) has so far issued 24 MSVTs in localities, with 11 MSVTs serving exports, including: 9 MSVTs on banana trees (exported to the Chinese market) with an area of over 2,057 hectares and 2 MSVTs on rice trees (exported to the European market) with an area of over 37 hectares. MSVT is an identification code for a growing area to help authorities and consumers easily trace the origin and determine the production process of agricultural products. This is also a prerequisite for agricultural products to be exported through official channels....
Vice Chairman of Huong Hoa District People's Committee Le Quang Thuan said that in order to continue to overcome difficulties for banana trees, in the coming time, the district will seek to expand export markets to increase the value of banana trees; find resources to support banana growers to gradually improve productivity, output and quality of banana products.
Encourage banana growers to apply scientific and technical advances in production; focus on intensive investment to increase productivity and product quality; link production with exploitation and protection of resources and ecological environment; support businesses in terms of land rental mechanisms and capital sources to invest in machinery and equipment to improve productivity, efficiency and quality of processed products.
Recently, the People's Council of Huong Hoa district issued a resolution approving the investment policy for the Tan Long banana market project (about 300 m from the old location) with a total investment of 11 billion VND; implementation period from 2024 - 2026. The Tan Long banana market project includes items such as roads, concrete yard, agricultural product kiosks, agricultural product roofs and auxiliary works...
The investment in the construction of the banana market in Tan Long commune aims to serve the needs of buying and selling, exchanging goods, especially banana products of local people and neighboring areas, contributing to promoting socio-economic development... Huong Hoa district also sent officials to join the delegation to visit, study and seek cooperation opportunities to develop bananas and medicinal plants organized by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
As a result, Musa Pacta Company Limited headquartered in Hanoi has agreed to cooperate with Quang Tri province to produce and consume banana products. Currently, Huong Hoa district is coordinating with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to create conditions for Musa Pacta Company Limited to survey the growing area with the orientation of forming joint ventures and cooperating with banana growers in the district to create a raw material area to process banana starch and products from banana stems.
In addition, the People's Committee of Huong Hoa district directed the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to provide technical support for the tissue culture banana growing model with an area of nearly 4 hectares (growing 8,000 tissue culture banana trees) of Mr. Nguyen Van Quan's family in Tan Long commune. The tissue culture banana growing model is sprayed with an automatic irrigation system; organic fertilizer, manure...
It is expected that the tissue culture banana garden will be harvested after 14-15 months of planting and care. This will be a model that not only banana growers in Tan Long commune but also communes in Lia, Tan Thanh, and Lao Bao town can refer to and learn from to invest in intensive banana cultivation, with fertilization and irrigation according to technical processes, gradually improving productivity, output, and quality of bananas to serve the domestic market as well as export.
Hai An
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