From the strange jackfruit variety, Mr. Man not only earned billions for his family but also propagated and provided technical support for gardeners from the South to the North to improve their income and become rich legitimately.
Mr. Tran Minh Man is 75 years old, tall, dark-skinned, and strong. While talking to me, he had just received phone calls from several supermarkets in Ho Chi Minh City urging the delivery of fresh jackfruit and closing orders to sell seedless jackfruit seedlings from many gardeners.
Mr. Man said that before becoming famous for his seedless jackfruit variety, he was known as a skilled farmer in growing pink grapefruit and then off-season durian.
Since 2007, his family's durian garden has been degenerating, so he decided to find a new variety to replace it, and the opportunity to stick with the seedless jackfruit variety also originated from here.
In 2010, while attending a conference at the Southern Fruit Research Institute, he visited a friend’s house in Tien Giang province and was introduced to a jackfruit variety originating from Myanmar with “very strange” characteristics and was given one fruit to bring home as a gift. A few days later, the jackfruit began to ripen, giving off a light fragrance.
The strange thing is that when cut, the jackfruit has no seeds and no latex. These can be said to be the two biggest disadvantages of traditional jackfruit varieties, but this jackfruit variety completely overcomes them. Not only that, the segments and fibers are yellow, the flesh is thick, and the taste is sweet, so you can eat the fibers too.
Mr. Tran Minh Man, a farmer, accidentally discovered and owned a seedless jackfruit variety in his family's seedless jackfruit garden in area 2, Ba Lang ward, Cai Rang district (Can Tho city).
Being a sharp and creative person, Mr. Man immediately saw the opportunity to get rich from this strange jackfruit variety.
So he immediately returned to his friend's house in Tien Giang to take cuttings for breeding. "This is a mutant jackfruit variety, or more accurately, a "heaven-sent" jackfruit variety.
After days of research, in the first batch, Mr. Man made 100 seedlings and planted them in the durian garden. After about 2 years of planting, the jackfruit began to produce a lot of fruit, the biggest fruit could weigh up to 20kg" - Mr. Man recalled.
Seedless jackfruit was successfully bred and grown, but Mr. Man suffered the most when bringing it to market because "people did not believe that there was such a jackfruit variety". From then on, Mr. Man immediately thought of promoting his brainchild by letting people try it at markets, introducing it to departments and agencies...
2014 marked the rise of the strange jackfruit variety when Mr. Man brought his product to participate in the Southern Delicious and Safe Fruit Contest and was awarded First Prize by the organizers.
After the above contest, Mr. Man's strange jackfruit variety was officially named: Ba Lang seedless jackfruit and was granted a certificate of exclusive trademark registration by the Department of Intellectual Property (Ministry of Science and Technology).
When asked why he did not name the jackfruit variety after himself, Mr. Man confided: “Cai Rang, Ba Lang, Vam Xang, Phong Dien are places associated with famous fruit and rice growing areas of Can Tho.
My grandparents and parents have been attached to this land for generations, so when I owned a strange jackfruit variety and successfully grew it, I immediately thought of naming it after the place name Ba Lang as a tribute to my homeland."
Currently, with an area of about 4,000m2, growing about 50 seedless jackfruit trees, each year Mr. Man sells tons of fresh jackfruit (price 50,000 VND/kg) and thousands of jackfruit seedlings (price 60,000 VND/tree) and earns billions of dong.
From his own success, Mr. Man began to propagate and distribute to people in the area to grow and expand. In the past 10 years, Ba Lang seedless jackfruit has not only been ordered from the South to the North but also sold to neighboring countries such as Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, etc.
According to Mr. Man, the process of growing seedless jackfruit is not difficult, but it is not easy. The key is to pay attention during the planting and care process. To develop jackfruit trees for a long time, according to Mr. Man, growers must cultivate and learn techniques and know how to harvest so that jackfruit bears fruit all year round.
Seedless jackfruit is suitable for growing in highlands and mountains, but when growing in the Mekong Delta, special attention must be paid to high mounds like durian. That is also the reason why most of my seed orders are mainly in the North, Central and Central Highlands regions.
“I have worked with teachers from Can Tho University to perfect the process of growing Ba Lang seedless jackfruit with high productivity and efficiency. If you follow this process, you will get the desired results.
On the other hand, the disadvantage of Ba Lang seedless jackfruit is that the fruit is easily deformed, so farmers must ensure that they apply nitrogen fertilizer in the correct proportion to produce round, beautiful jackfruit. In addition, this type of tree loves manure, so only apply a small amount of chemical fertilizer when the tree is over a year old.
Mr. Man's efforts over the years have been recognized and honored by the Party, State and local authorities such as the title of Excellent Vietnamese Farmer, Good Farmer in Production and Business; the commemorative medal For the Development of Agriculture, Farmers and Rural Areas in Vietnam...
Mr. Man affirmed that for many years, he has not called on people to buy his seedlings to plant, nor has he advertised in any way to attract customers, and his house has not even hung a sign selling seedless jackfruit and seedlings.
Most people in and outside the country know about Mr. Man and seedless jackfruit through newspapers and radio. If anyone wants to learn more, they can come to his house and try it. If it's delicious, they can buy it to eat, or bring the seedlings home to plant.
Mr. Tran Minh Man, Area 2, Ba Lang Ward, Cai Rang District (Can Tho City) confided: “I am getting old this year, my biggest wish is to continue to bring Ba Lang seedless jackfruit further, to be accepted and widely propagated by people in many places. I am happy that although Ba Lang seedless jackfruit is no longer as popular as it was about 5-7 years ago, there are still many groups of visitors coming to learn about seedless jackfruit.
And it was even more fun to receive calls from many localities to order seedlings for planting. That proves that Ba Lang seedless jackfruit not only brings profit to my family but also really brings economic efficiency to many gardeners across the country."
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