Farmers in the Mekong Delta are sowing various vegetables and fruits for harvest ahead of Tet (the festival that celebrates the Lunar New Year). The demand for vegetables and fruits is always large during Vietnam’s largest festival, which takes place on February 5 of this year.
In Ca Mau Province, farmers began planting bitter melon, spring onion, watermelon, and tomato and other vegetables early this month. Farmers in the Ly Van Lam commune, a watermelon growing area in Ca Mau City, are planting 21ha of the fruit to Vietnamese good agricultural practices (VietGAP) standards.
If the weather is favourable, farmers could earn VND20 million (US$860) per 1,000 m2, harvesting some three tons of the fruit two months after planting.
The local People’s Committee has instructed the Ly Van Lam Agriculture Co-operative to ensure its members conform to watermelon growing schedules, the varieties they should grow and the size at which to harvest to meet market demand.
But recent rains in the commune have affected the growing schedule and created conditions for infestation by pests, giving farmers cause for worry about poor harvest. In Dong Thap Province, many farmers are planting clean vegetables, including in net houses.
Can Duoc authorities have encouraged farmers and agricultural co-operatives to apply VietGAP standards in growing vegetables, according to the district’s Agriculture and Rural Development Division.
