Developing the brand of Khanh Son durian

Khanh Son district are known as the capital of delicious durians and Khanh Son brand has been affirmed. Currently, gardeners in the area are busy taking care of durians, aiming for production in an organic direction to maintain the brand and quality of this specialty fruit.

The dry season has just begun, which is also the time when durian trees in the Khanh Son highlands are in bloom. Welcoming us at the land of durian Son Lam, Trinh Dinh Ba - Chairman of the People's Committee of Son Lam commune expressed: "In recent years, durian trees have brought very high value to people in the commune, so many households have switched from ineffective crops to growing durian. Up to now, there are 1,100 hectares of durian in the area, 600 hectares of which are in the fruiting period. Currently, people are busy entering the peak of durian care during the flowering stage, so the atmosphere has become bustling”.

Cao Thanh Hai’s family (in Ko Roa village, Son Lam commune) has just fertilized 300 durian trees that are in bloom. Wiping the sweat off his sun-darkened face, Hai shared: “Durian trees have brought a prosperous life to my family. Like the last crop, my family made a profit of nearly 1.5 billion VND from this specialty tree. Therefore, after the harvest, I invested in buying high-quality organic fertilizer and microbial fertilizer to nourish the trees, and now I continue to fertilize, and install pipes to water regularly to take care of the trees during the flowering stage. My family grows durian organically, without using fertilizers or chemicals”.

Provincial leaders learn about Thanh Hung processed durian products.

Arriving at Son Trung commune, we met Nguyen Van Bon (in Ma O village) who was replacing damaged pipes to pump water for trees on a high hill, more than 800m from the water source. Bon said that after fertilizing the trees during the flowering stage, it is necessary to maintain a stable water source so that the trees can gradually adapt to the dry weather. When the flowers bloom and bear young fruit, even if the weather changes, the flowers and young fruits will fall less, etc. Therefore, his family has invested more than 40 million VND to replace water pipes and pumps; mobilized operators to ensure the water source for irrigation when entering the dry season.

According to Nguyen Quoc Dong - Vice Chairman of Khanh Son District People's Committee, over the past 20 years, Khanh Son District has researched, tested and developed many crops with high economic value, including more than 3,640 hectares of fruit trees, especially durian trees accounting for more than 70% of the area. Like the durian harvest last year, the whole district had up to 1,700 hectares for harvest out of a total of more than 2,600 hectares, with an output of nearly 18,000 tons, bringing in a value of more than 1,000 billion VND for local people. "Agriculture, mainly durian and other fruit trees with high economic value, is the spearhead of economic development, the strength of the district when this industry accounts for about 70% of the local economic structure. Khanh Son durian has been registered for trademark protection, voted as a golden agricultural brand of Vietnam, and is favored by domestic and foreign consumers thanks to its guaranteed quality,” Dong emphasized.

A view of the durian growing area in Khanh Son district.

According to the leaders of the district People's Committee and gardeners, Khanh Son durians always have higher selling price than other growing areas in the country thanks to their different quality. The quality is not only created by the suitability of the climate and soil conditions of the Khanh Son highlands for this type of tree, but also comes from the way of planting and caring for it in the direction of converting from agricultural production focusing on increasing output to green agriculture, organic agriculture for sustainable development, and increasing value. “In recent years, the selling price has been very high, most gardeners have the conditions to invest in high-quality organic fertilizers, microbial fertilizers and drugs to treat diseases on durian trees, ensuring safety, thus prolonging the life of the tree, ensuring fruit quality, and safety for farmers... For example, my family has been using fish protein micronutrient fertilizer for 3 hectares of durian trees during the fruiting period for the past 4 years, the amount of chemical fertilizer used is less than 7% in the entire care process. With organic fertilizers, the trees grow well, recover quickly, have strength, sprout quickly, have large, thick leaves, flowers bloom evenly, and gummosis is no longer seen", Mr. Le Minh Canh (Ko Roa village) shared.

Dinh Van Dung - Chairman of Khanh Son District People's Committee said that durian is a key crop in the agricultural economy, the district is actively converting to develop in a cleaner direction to bring high efficiency and sustainable development. Currently, the whole district has many gardeners applying durian production according to GAP standards (VietGAP, GlobalGAP) with more than 350 hectares; there are 15 durian growing area codes officially exported to China with 430 hectares, these areas are all strictly controlled according to strict standards throughout the entire production process; these are the first steps for the district to improve the quality of durian specialties. Developing durians in an organic direction is the district's orientation for farmers to gradually convert. This will be suitable for the increasingly high demands of the market.

After bumper crops, Khanh Son people have gradually invested in applying scientific and technological advances to produce safely, in an organic direction. However, the level of investment and application of technology in production and organic agriculture is still low; agricultural production in the direction of safety meeting GAP standards has not been widely replicated, especially there is no standard model in organic production for people to learn and apply. Le Cong Binh - a durian grower in Son Binh commune expressed: Converting production towards organic direction is a fundamental, long-term issue for gardeners.

According to the leader of Khanh Son district, in the near future, the district will build a pilot model of organic durian production for gardeners to visit, study, and learn, thereby expanding to production areas in the area. In addition, the district will support farmers and cooperatives to organize training courses on organic farming techniques, grasp knowledge about the market... From there, households will boldly develop organic agriculture. Along with that, the district will continue to organize conferences connecting supply and demand; enhance the application of science and technology in durian production to increase product value, meeting the increasing demands of the market...

Hai Lang

Translated by T.T