Cai Lay district develops specialized fruit-growing gardens according to the "living with floods" motto

ABO - Implementing the goal of "living with the flood", Cai Lay district has expanded the area specialized in specialized fruit orchards such as durian, fruit segments, etc… bring high economic effect over 10,600 ha. Every year, the district supplies nearly 305,000 tons of all kind fruit for the domestic and export market and.

Locating in the floodplain area of the Tien river of the Tien Giang province, Cai Lay district has implemented the policy of converting production according to "living with the flood" motto in order to reduce damage caused by natural disasters. The southern part of the National Highway 1 adjacently to the Tien river is planned to develop specialized orchards for the cultivation of fruit trees.

Illustrative image. Photo: HUU CHI

According to the Cai Lay district Agriculture and Rural Development Department, the target has been to orient the farmers to expand the area of 7,000 hectares specialized durian, thousands hectares of super early jackfruit trees and other specialties bringing great income, helping many farmers to overcome difficulties and make a sustainable income.

Farmer Vo Van Trang in hamlet 6, Phu An commune, Cai Lay district, converted 5,000 square meters of paddy rice into super early jackfruit, said that he harvested tens of tons of jackfruit per a year on average with about VND150 million. After deducting expenses, he gained more than VND 100 million, much higher than the previous high-yield rice.

Farmer Nguyen Van Lap in Hiep Ngai hamlet, Hiep Duc commune converted one hectare of rice land to planting durian. In the past year, his family produced 18 tons of durian fruit with the price of VND 50,000/kg; after deducting expenses, he gained VND 600 million.

According to the Tien Giang province Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the models of conversion from rice planting to orchard specialties have brought profit to farmers on average from VND71 million to nearly VND 300 million per hectare depending on the type of tree and market prices, over five to seven times higher than previous monoculture.

Tien Giang province is also implementing the flood control and flood control sub-project in Cai Lay district, Cai Lay town and Cai Be district with a total investment of over VND 365 billion. The goal is to complete the network of dykes for flood prevention, flood control dams and flood drainage to protect orchard specialties.

The project is expected to be completed and put into operation in 2019, which will open new opportunities for area specialized in orchard specialties in Cai Lay district with the target of "living with flood" as well as building new rural areas.

By MINH TRI – Translated by HUU CHI