Cam Lam people make tourism from ancient mango trees

Cam Lam District (Khanh Hoa) is a locality with a large mango growing area in the South Central region, with nearly 7,000 hectares and more than 20 different mango varieties. Local people have researched and created unique mango products, and exploited mango gardens for tourism .

Concerns for the development of Cam Lam mango trees

We followed Mr. Dang The Truyen (32 years old), Director of Camlam Online Company Limited, to the ancient mango garden that is being exploited for experiential tourism. Mr. Truyen said that the mango trees here are all over 70 years old, some are over 85 years old. Graduated from a university in Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Truyen is always concerned about the potential for development from mangoes in his hometown.

“During the Covid-19 pandemic, I was able to participate in the work of rescuing agricultural products of the people, through which I realized the great value of my local identity. In Cam Lam, there are many ancient mango trees that have been abandoned by the people because they do not bring economic resources, and mango products are also at the manual and fragmented level, not providing the main source of income for the people here. From there, I was determined to come up with the idea of an experiential tourism model about mango trees, creating an ecosystem where mango growers will have a stable income from Cam Lam mango trees.”

Nearly 100-year-old mango garden in Cam Lam

Currently, Cam Lam mango is still mainly consumed domestically, with very low export output. According to statistics, the total mango area in Cam Lam district ( Khanh Hoa ) is nearly 7,000 hectares, with annual fresh fruit output fluctuating around 50,000 tons. However, the unstable output price makes people no longer interested in mango trees as before.

The experiential tourism model aims to build a sustainable mango ecosystem. Mango growers will be more aware of using organic pesticides instead of chemicals as before, improving the quality of mangoes, achieving Vietnamese and international quality standards, enhancing the Cam Lam mango brand.

Products are manufactured in a closed system to avoid insects.

With the current tourism model, the surrounding households have had a new perspective on how to generate economic resources from mango trees. Ms. Vu Bich Tram (40 years old) said that her family has nearly 40 ancient mango trees. Previously, when the harvest season came, they sold them to traders, causing unstable prices. In recent years, by collaborating with the experiential tourism model, her family has been able to earn money from letting tourists visit the mango garden, and fresh mangoes are sold at market prices to create new products. The family's income is more stable than before.

New tourism products from mango

The model of sightseeing and experiencing tourism, creating products from mango, is of great interest to tourists, especially international visitors. Mr. Truyen said that visitors here are very interested in the ancient mango trees that are nearly a hundred years old. Many people were very surprised and asked how such large mango trees could be kept?

Foreign visitors experience picking mangoes in the garden

Mr. Truyen's mango garden tour started in early 2023, when he realized that Cam Lam district is located between Nha Trang city and Cam Ranh city, and is close to major tourist areas in Bai Dai, so it is easy to welcome guests.

Tourists all seemed excited because of the new experience of visiting mango gardens, enjoying mango dishes and making their own mango products (mango cake, mango tea, dried mango with salt and chili...).

Mr. Tran Le Hoa, Director of Mango Cat Tien Company, said that Canh Nong mango has long been a typical local mango variety. In the past, people only knew how to grow and sell mangoes to traders. When the mango season was ripe, there were too many mangoes to sell in time, so mango growers were often forced to lower their prices. Therefore, mangoes were sometimes sold at very low prices, and sometimes had to be thrown away in grief.

Every year, the company buys more than 200 tons of mangoes from the people to create new products. Currently, Mr. Hoa's company has developed more than 10 types of mango products, and will soon research and create products such as mango wine, mango wine and mango tea.

With the development and experience over the years, the experiential tourism model in Cam Lam is expected to be a new type of tourism for Khanh Hoa.

WORKER

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/nguoi-dan-cam-lam-lam-du-lich-tu-cay-xoai-co-thu-post747565.html