Tien Giang expands pineapple growing area hinh anh 1Ha Van Bay, a farmer in Thanh My commune of Tan Phuoc district, takes care of his ornamental pineapple field (Photo: VNA)

The Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang has expanded the growing area of pineapples in Tan Phuoc district to 16,000 hectares, and is expecting to produce over 287,000 tonnes for domestic consumption and export.

Besides expanding the cultivation area, local authorities have encouraged farmers to apply advanced farming techniques and manufacturing processes in line with the Vietnam Agricultural Practice (VietGap) standards in order to improve the fruit quality.

So far, the district has invested in a 700-kilometre dyke system and pump stations to protect pineapple crops in the flood season.

With an average yield of nearly 20 tonnes per hectare, farmers earn a profit of 30-35 million VND a year, according to Deputy Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Van Lam.

With 4 hectares of pineapple meeting VietGap standards, Ngo Van Bien in Tan Phuoc's Tan Lap 2 Commune earns about 320 million VND (14,800 USD) in production value annually, of which his net profit reaches about 50 percent.-VNA