Ca Mau works to increase banana value, output

Hanoi (VNA) - The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ca Mau province will popularise Vietnamese good agricultural practices (VietGAP) and organic standards in order to increase the value and yield of its bananas.

The southernmost province will also combine the banana orchards with eco-tourism services to add to farmers’ incomes.

It will encourage farmers to turn mixed orchards, areas around fields growing other crops and near forests and unproductive rice fields into banana plantations.

Banana farmers will use intensive farming to increase yields, tissue culture and high-quality varieties. In the plantations, farmers will be encouraged to breed fish and livestock.

Besides, the province will strive to strengthen linkages between farmers and processors to increase the output of various products made from the fruit and its by-products.

Ca Mau, one of the largest banana growing provinces in the Mekong Delta, has 5,400ha under various varieties of the fruit, including 4,800ha of xiem, with an annual output of 60,000 tonnes.

The banana growing areas are located mostly in U Minh and Tran Van Thoi districts.

Nguyen Tran Thuc, head of the department’s Plant Protection and Cultivation Sub-department, said demand for xiem bananas remains steady despite the COVID-19 pandemic, and it fetches farmers a price of 3,500 VND a kilogramme, the same as before the outbreak.

The province’s bananas are sold in the delta and Ho Chi Minh City and exported to Cambodia through local traders.

Most are sold for eating fresh, with a quantity meant for processing into products like dried banana and banana cake.

Ca Mau plans to expand its area under banana to 6,000ha and annual output to 120,000 tonnes by 2025./.