Harvesting watermelons on a field as part of the Loc Troi - Hagihara Farm project (Photo: VNA) HCM City (VNA) - Loc Troi Group, aleading provider of agricultural services and products in Vietnam, on July 23announced it had exported 8.1 kg of seeds that will grow into seedlesswatermelons to Japan.
According to Chairman of the group Huynh VanThon, the seeds are part of a project between Loc Troi and Japanese-basedHagihara Farm Co., Ltd., which aims to teach Japanese watermelon cultivationtechniques to Vietnamese farmers to build an organic model in the country. Theproject also targets the production and distribution of the seeds in Vietnam aswell as their export to Japan and elsewhere.
Mai Tan Hoang, deputy head of Loc Troi’sresearch and development department, said one of the toughest requirements isto ensure the formation of a 99.9-percent purebred variety unharmed bymicroorganisms. This means strict standards for soil quality and temperature aswell as the separation the seedless plantations from normal ones to avoidunwanted pollination.
Tran Viet Truong, a farmer in Hau Giang’sChau Thanh district who was involved in the production of the first seed batch sentto Japan, said compared to growing normal commercial watermelons, the processfor the Japanese variety requires much more advanced techniques.
The project has been carried out in theMekong Delta province of Hau Giang and Tien Giang, with initial success of the first8.1 kg of 99.97-percent purebred seeds for export.-VNA
VNA
