Pear guava or Hoanh Bo guava has long been a tree that helps people escape poverty in Son Duong commune (Ha Long city). Guava growers in Son Duong now have the opportunity to get rich, become millionaires and export this branded product abroad...
Leave the city to grow guava in the forest
I still remember the Lunar New Year 2022, my friend introduced me to the OCOP guava pear product grown in Son Duong which sold very well. The product was present at the OCOP Spring Fair 2022 with an output of about 500kg/day, bringing in nearly 100 million in revenue during the fair.
As introduced, we went to Son Duong, looking for the area growing the popular OCOP product. We met Ms. Nguyen Thuy Ha, Director of Viet Hung Agriculture - Forestry - Fishery Cooperative (Son Duong commune), who has many innovations in farming methods, bringing guava to a new page in value and brand. To "see firsthand", she took us to the guava garden. Ms. Ha's interesting story on the journey to the farming site caught our attention.
Ms. Ha said: Since 2011, I have had many opportunities to travel to Son Duong, buying guava in this famous guava capital. However, many times I bought sour and sooty guava, so I threw away a lot. Meanwhile, I have also bought crunchy and sweet Ong Doi guava many times, always keeping the price at 30,000 VND/kg, while Son Duong guava sometimes sells for only 5,000-7,000 VND/kg. As a large fruit orchard of hundreds of hectares, in which guava is grown a lot, if the brand and value are maintained, the revenue will be very large.
From the idea of improving this specialty plant, Ms. Ha established a cooperative and determined to pursue her idea. “At first, my idea of leaving the city to go to the remote mountainous area of Son Duong to... grow guava surprised many people. At that time, I invested nearly 2 billion VND to establish the cooperative, buy land, materials, hire workers... During the first 2-3 years of establishment, the cooperative did not make a profit. That amount of money was all the capital I had saved for many years. Many people said I was crazy, my husband and children were worried about me" - Ms. Ha said.
However, fate brought me to meet Mr. Vuong Van Binh (Vuon Ram village), Vi Van Tuyen (Dong Giang village), the pioneers with rich experience in growing guava in Son Duong. Thanks to their suggestion, my colleagues and I created a type of microbial fertilizer made from biological products mixed and soaked with soybeans and fish. "With guava trees, in addition to other substances, to have beautiful and sweet fruit, we need to add potassium. Of which, natural potassium is abundant in the well-composted compound. That was the suggestion of our predecessors" - Ms. Ha recalled.
However, to synthesize a natural microbial fertilizer rich in potassium, she and her colleagues spent years, with many failures due to unsatisfactory mixing and incubation ratios. After about a year, in mid-2022, Ms. Ha successfully produced a nutrient-rich, low-cost fertilizer from soybeans and fish to fertilize plants...
Halfway through the story, we arrived at the guava garden. This season, in addition to the sugarcane fields and watermelon fields, Son Duong has vast green guava gardens, carefully wrapped in foam and white plastic bags. Ms. Ha led us to the garden of the cooperative, where the organic fertilizer was chosen for pilot application after its success.
Surprisingly, the guava trees are provided with nutrients to be green and full of fruit even at the beginning of the season - the season of leafing, flowering, budding, and branching. During this time, due to the influence of rain, the guava trees often produce low and bland fruit. However, thanks to this new microbial fertilizer, the guava trees still produce beautiful, crunchy, and sweeter fruit than other guava gardens.
After testing the sample plants and seeing clear results, she boldly implemented it on more than 1,000 guava trees of the Cooperative, basically replacing chemical potassium fertilizer. The guava crop at the end of 2022 was bumper. Not only the Cooperative's guava garden, this preparation is also applied to the guava gardens of households participating in the Cooperative's production chain.
Not far away, about 1km away, is the guava garden of Mr. Dang Dinh Toan's family (Vuon Cau village) participating in the guava care process chain of Viet Hung Cooperative. At this time, most of the gardens have no or few fruits, but his family's garden of about 2 sao is green, still producing quite large, heavy fruits, harvesting up to dozens of kg of fruit/day.
Mr. Toan said: Thanks to my cousin's introduction, I accidentally learned about this care method and boldly tried it. Compared to before, the guava is bigger, smoother, crispier, and sweeter. Sometimes, in season, the weight of the guava reaches 3-4 fruits/kg. In addition to the traditional fertilization method in Son Duong, perhaps thanks to that strange fertilizer, the guava leaves are thicker and greener. Thanks to that, the tree is healthier and has more fruit.
Thanks to natural potassium, guavas are also bigger and sweeter, although guavas are often very bland in early summer. However, the care is also more elaborate according to the Cooperative's process: Each tree is watered with 5 liters of diluted solution in batches. Especially when the tree flowers and bears fruit, watering is increased.
Thanks to this method, after 6 months of care, his family's more than 400 guava trees yielded a harvest of 35-40 million VND/month when the season began. In addition to the time for care and fertilization, the average income for this guava crop reached over 100 million VND, nearly 1.5 times higher than the traditional farming method. Not to mention the cost of materials and fertilizers is greatly reduced, the new fertilizer helps the trees to be stronger and more resistant to pests and diseases.
Dream of green agriculture , exporting guava abroad
Having succeeded in researching and growing guava using new methods, the Cooperative is now expanding the area with the method of growing to households. The Cooperative also transferred the process and method of processing microbiological products to fertilize guava trees to 3 households in the commune. What the households must strictly follow is the clean care process and watering at the right time as set out by the Cooperative. This is a favorable condition to develop output and further improve the quality of the Cooperative's OCOP products" - Ms. Ha shared the orientation.
The products of the Cooperative are facing favorable conditions and opportunities to go further. Continuously in August 2022 and March 2023, the guava growing model using biological products of the Cooperative was the destination for the Norwegian Embassy delegation to visit and learn . During the working sessions, the issue of clean production and export of guava from Son Duong to Norway was mentioned.
"It can be said that this is an opportunity, a wide open door for Son Duong guava in particular and guava in the region in general. This is also a way for guava growers to pay more serious attention to clean, high-quality agricultural products, meeting domestic and foreign consumption needs, thereby increasing income and position for the product" - Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hai, Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Ha Long City, assessed this model.
According to the leader of the People's Committee of Son Duong commune, one of the great advantages is that the guava growing area in Son Duong is one of the 25 growing areas recognized by the authorities in 2022. This can be considered a "passport" to bring the province's agricultural products to the international market. It is known that businesses are also very interested in improving product quality and upgrading 5-star OCOP products. At the same time, the Cooperative has also signed a close cooperation agreement, purchasing products from households, helping to increase output for the market.
Not only that, Viet Hung Cooperative is also aiming to promote the value of green agriculture, develop agricultural tourism by promoting the strengths and resources of the Cooperative members. Currently, the Cooperative is building community tourism tours, agricultural tourism associated with the historical revolutionary relic of Son Duong, promising to be an attractive destination for families and students of schools.
"It's not clear whether we're millionaires or getting rich, but we're still losing money!" - Ms. Ha joked as she saw us off.
She emphasized: "What we want most is to increase income for farmers, create guava gardens and fields for high income. Farmers will become millionaires, get rich on their own homeland. Selling agricultural products at the highest price, the quality must also be commensurate. A good product deserves the most beautiful and luxurious packaging. We will target customers who want to use safe products and want to be served with the most respectful attitude."
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