A mulberry garden in the commune (Photo: SGGP)
In the past, residents in the hilly areas of the Cam Thanh Commune of Cam Lo District mainly planted long-term industrial crops such as rubber, pepper and afforestation. However, after many years of low rubber and pepper prices, as well as frequent epidemics, people's incomes are not stable.
Realizing that the soil and climate conditions are suitable for a number of fruit trees, medicinal plants, and breeding, inhabitants switched to planting other crops such as mulberry, guava, durian, ansa tree, tea tree which have improved the livelihood of farmers in the poor district.
With an area of more than one ha, farmer Tran Van Quoc in Tan Phu village in Cam Thanh commune of Cam Lo District has planted more than 1,000 mulberry trees for many years because the mulberry tree is suitable for the local soil and climatic conditions without much care but the tree generates higher economic efficiency than previous native plants, with an average yield 4-5 tons of fruit per ha, Mr. Quoc said.
In order to enhance the value of mulberry, in addition to selling fresh fruit, farmer Quoc's family has spent money on machinery and equipment to make other products from mulberry fruit such as syrup and mulberry fruit wine.
Mr. Quoc revealed that every year, the family can make from 900 to 1,200 liters of wine, syrup, products that are completely, naturally fermented, without using by-products, so they are favored by domestic and foreign markets. the family earned about VND100 million (US$4,351) yearly.
A mulberry garden in the commune (Photo: SGGP)
A mulberry garden in the commune (Photo: SGGP)
A mulberry garden in the commune (Photo: SGGP)
In addition to the mulberry growing model, residents in Cam Thanh Commune planted various trees along with effective product processing such as the model of growing medicinal plants. For instance, farmers grow An Xa tree in the area of nearly two hectares and tea in more than 10 hectares of land, and several other medicinal plants as raw materials for processing medicinal herbs.
Chairman of Cam Thanh Commune People's Committee Le Anh Chuong said that in recent years, the commune has focused on mobilizing and supporting people to convert their gardens to growing fruit trees and medicinal plants in order to exploit effectively exploit the potential and advantages of the locality.
In the commune, 20 households have been growing mulberry in nearly 10 hectares; furthermore, many households have invested in machinery to make products from mulberry fruit, which have become a money-spinner for farmers in the poor province.
Making mulberry wine (Photo: SGGP)
