Making organic custard apples to develop tourism

Tay Ninh After successfully producing and consuming custard apples in an organic direction, Minh Trung Cooperative (Tay Ninh) is producing organic custard apples to develop tourism .

Tay Ninh After successfully producing and consuming custard apples in an organic direction, Minh Trung Cooperative (Tay Ninh) is producing organic custard apples to develop tourism.

Soursop garden produced entirely according to organic processes of Minh Trung Cooperative. Photo: Son Trang .

Minh Trung Agricultural Service Cooperative (HTX Minh Trung) in Tan Hung Commune, Tan Chau District, Tay Ninh Province is a large-scale cooperative producing custard apples (custard apples) - a specialty of Tay Ninh Province. Currently, the Cooperative has more than 600 hectares of custard apples. Thanks to production according to safety standards, over the years, custard apples of Minh Trung Cooperative have always had a stable output and have been exported abroad.

In recent years, Minh Trung Cooperative has been gradually shifting to organic custard apple production. Mr. Le Minh Trung, Director of Minh Trung Cooperative, said that the Cooperative has converted more than 30 hectares of custard apple to production with a process that mainly uses organic fertilizers, biological pesticides and prevents and controls some harmful insects that are currently very difficult to handle (such as mealybugs and thrips) with biological solutions.

Although produced organically, custard apples of Minh Trung Cooperative still achieve high productivity and quality, even higher productivity than when produced with chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Specifically, with a custard apple garden produced in the conventional way, the productivity is about 5 tons/crop, but with a garden of the same area produced organically, the productivity is up to 12 tons/crop. Mr. Trung explained that when produced organically, the soil in the garden is greatly improved in terms of porosity, helping the tree's root system to develop well, so productivity is increased, and the appearance of the fruit is also more beautiful.

Not stopping there, for the past 3 months, Minh Trung Cooperative has converted 2 hectares of custard apples to completely organic farming, without using any chemical fertilizers or pesticides during the entire farming process.

Using organic products in soursop cultivation at Minh Trung Cooperative. Photo: Son Trang .

Mr. Le Minh Trung shared that growing custard apples completely organically is very difficult because the biological pesticides currently available are still not effective in preventing and controlling two types of harmful insects: mealybugs and thrips. Therefore, Minh Trung Cooperative can only pilot 2 hectares of completely organic farming. This custard apple garden is isolated from the other custard apple gardens of the Cooperative. To avoid cross-contamination with chemical pesticides from the gardens of surrounding people, Minh Trung Cooperative has built a high wall surrounding the organic custard apple garden.

Due to the damage caused by mealybugs and thrips to a certain extent, Minh Trung Cooperative's organic custard apples do not look as beautiful as those in organically produced gardens, but quality and productivity are still guaranteed.

Producing organic custard apples, Minh Trung Cooperative accepts to trade off the form of the fruit because when switching to completely organic production, the Cooperative aims to turn these 2 hectares of custard apples and the surrounding space into an interesting tourist destination associated with custard apple products that meet 3-star OCOP standards, because this custard apple garden is located near Ba Den Mountain - a famous spiritual tourist destination of Tay Ninh province.

Therefore, in parallel with the organization of organic custard apple production, Minh Trung Cooperative is constructing the necessary facilities for a tourist attraction. In addition, in order to create more experience spaces for visitors, the Cooperative has brought here hundreds of plant species and 9 animal species such as deer, rabbits, sheep, cows, pigs, chickens...

It is expected that in a few months, when the organic custard apple garden begins to yield harvest, Minh Trung Cooperative will officially open its doors to welcome tourists to visit and experience a spacious, green, clean countryside garden, enjoy on the spot and buy delicious, purely organic Ba Den custard apples as gifts.

Source: https://nongsanviet.nongnghiep.vn/lam-mang-cau-huu-co-de-phat-trien-du-lich-d404132.html