Fruit specialties commercially grown in South-western region

Journalists from the Vietnam Agriculture newspaper have co-ordinated with Ph.D. Nguyen Minh Chau, former Director of the Southern Horticultural Research Institute, to present fruit specialties of the south-western region.

Star Apple

Star Apple is the fruit grown for commercial purposes in Vietnam although it also appears in Cambodia, the Philippines and Thailand.

Those star apples grown in Lo Ren are very famous fruits in domestic markets and for exports. Originated from Vinh Kim and Chau Thanh districts of Tien Giang Province, the fruit is very delicious and sweet and has been exported to America, China, and much consumed in Hanoi.

Currently, there are new varieties of star apple such as those with purple peel without latex. The new variety which is delicious and sweet, and can provide fruits of between 450-500 grams each with very few seeds inside. However, this new one is not as sweet as Lo Ren.

In addition, another purple star apple widely grown in Tien Giang, Soc Trang, Can Tho and Cu Chi in Ho Chi Minh City. Despite its beautiful purple color, the fruit is not either as sweet as Lo Ren so it is not much popular in the market.

Jackfruit

In recent years, jackfruit growing is developed very strongly in the West, especially in Tien Giang, Can Tho and Hau Giang provinces. The most thriving variety is locally-called “early Thai jackfruit” which can bring great average income to growers of over 500 million per hectare. The fruit has become a “hot” fruit grown in the Mekong Delta.

In particular, Vietnamese farmers called it the “early Thai jackfruit” but when we went to Thailand, we could not find any similar species commercially grown in that country.

This has proved that Vietnamese farmers in the Souths such as Mr. Ba Lap in Cai Lay, Tien Giang province have created the new precious variety and made it available for growing in Vietnam. In recent years, this variety has become so “hot” among growers thanks to its firm, crunchy, and very sweet flesh.

Recently, in Cai Rang and Can Tho, there has appeared another seedless jackfruit variety with good quality but not as popular as Thai jackfruit because of its low yield.

The “early Thai jackfruit” is helping gardeners in the Mekong Delta to get rich since each hectare can give 40 tons of fruit. Each kilo of the fruit can be sold at VND20,000-40,000. Sometimes the price reaches up to VND50,000-60,000 per 1kilo.

Tropical Avocado

In recent years, farmers in the Mekong Delta have started planting tropical avocado species in Ben Tre, Dong Thap and Tien Giang provinces...

The seedling nurseries in Cho Lach district, Ben Tre province have multiplied many tropical avocado breeds for the local area and developed others that are well adapted to cool weather in the Central Highlands region.

Initial results of experiments show that tropical avocado varieties such as 034, MD2 and Ma Duong are suitable for growing in regions with tropical weather conditions.

Breed 034 is recognized as having the best quality and high yield while being grown in Tien Giang and Ben Tre provinces which are known to have very similar weather conditions to those in Bao Loc of Lam Dong province from where it is originated.