A Vietnamese farmer and his Changai jackfruit. The fruit growing area is being expanded in the southern province of Hau Giang. — Photo hieugiangbetter.com

By Huynh Su – Thu Hien

HAU GIANG (Biz Hub) – Farmer Le Thi Bay has become famous for earning VND700 million (US$32,941) a year from the planting of Changai jackfruit in her farm in this southern province.

The two-hectare farm consisting of 1,500 trees is located in Vinh Tuong Commune, in this southern province's Vi Thuy District. Changai jackfruit, which comes from Thailand, is reportedly sweet-tasting, full of fruit, thin-skinned and easy to grow.

Initially, Bay planted the jackfruit on a one-hectare garden. The planting model was so successful that she doubled the area and planted 1,500 trees. In the past 10 years, Bay has committed to selling the fruit.

From Bay's experience, this kind of jackfruit tree bears its first fruits 18 months after planting. This variety of fruit is large and weighs 7kg to 20kg each, with some even reaching more than 20kg. On the average, a jackfruit tree produces 100kg of fruit per year.

If the price stands at VND15,000 (US$0.70) per kg, a tree which bears 100kg of fruits per year will earn more than VND1 million ($47).

According to Bay, producers of dry jackfruit only buy Vietnamese jackfruit that is as yellow as butter, like Changai, so she never had to worry about output or falling price.

Bay said she has a stable market of consumers, and when her fruits ripen, she just has to make a phone call to get customers to ship the fruit themselves.

Also, Thai jackfruit farmers only have to protect the fruits by covering them with a net bag when they are small and do not have to use pesticide.

According to Bui Duc Thinh, an agriculture promotion officer in Vinh Tuong Commune, residents have become familiar with rice and sugarcane plantations, but their yields are much lower than that of other regions.

In contrast, Changai develops quite well on land in the commune. But residents who want to grow this kind of fruit have to go to Dong Thap or Tien Giang provinces to buy seedlings because it is very difficult to raise young trees by extracting the branches of mature trees.

The investment to buy seedlings is fairly high in comparison with farmers' budget, so many residents remain hesitant to grow the fruit.

In spite of the apparent success of farms like that of Bay, Hau Giang's Agricultural Department plans to conduct further studies on the fruit's productivity, output and profit potential before recommending the cultivation of this fruit in suitable areas of the province. — VNS