Developing export-oriented banana growing areas

(HNM) - With the advantages and efficiency brought, banana trees have been selected by the Agriculture sector to be the main fruit tree group of the city, implementing restructuring, investing in technology, granting planting area codes... Initially, Hanoi has formed and developed a number of high-tech banana growing areas towards export, bringing high economic value to farmers. The reporter had an exchange with the Director of the Center for Agricultural Development (Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development) Hoang Thi Hoa around this issue.

- Hanoi has many kinds of special fruit trees with high value such as Canh oranges, Dien pomelos... so why did the city choose bananas as one of the main fruit trees, ma'am?

- Hanoi has alluvial land along the Red River, Da River, Day River... up to tens of thousands of hectares and this type of soil is suitable for the development characteristics of banana trees. In addition, growing bananas does not take too much effort, and is harvested in the first year, unlike some other fruit trees that take time from 3 to 7 years to start harvesting... This is the basis for Hanoi to choose. Banana is one of the main crops.

Currently, the banana growing area of ​​Hanoi has reached 3,294 ha, mainly in Van Nam commune (Phuc Tho district); Kieu Ky and Kim Son communes (Gia Lam district); Chu Minh commune (Ba Vi district)... in which, more than 70% of the area is planted with tissue culture banana varieties. Initially, Hanoi has formed high-quality banana growing areas eligible for export to a number of countries such as Korea, Japan... And if farmers promote technology application in the production and harvesting process , processing, preserving ... according to the "Good Agricultural Practices in Vietnam" (VietGAP) standard, this crop can give an income of 300-350 million VND/ha/year, about 200 million VND in profit. VND/ha/year.

From another angle, with the trend of developing a green economy, limiting the use of plastic products, farmers can have more income from harvesting banana leaves, banana flowers... In particular, banana stems can make yarn to produce a variety of handicraft products, paper, high-grade materials used in the automobile and yacht industries... This clean source of raw material is very popular in the European market and has had a number of businesses. industry put the technology of pressing banana stem to get fiber into production; at the same time consuming products...

- Recently, the area of ​​fruit trees in Hanoi has expanded rapidly and following the movement often brings a lot of consequences (both excess, shortage or harvest, devaluation...). In your opinion, does the banana tree fall into this situation?

- Hanoi has no plan to expand the banana growing area and will maintain it as it is today, but will increase the value of banana trees by applying science and technology, changing planting methods, caring for and selecting banana varieties. new. In fact, the room for developing banana trees in Hanoi is not to increase the area massively but to replace the old poor quality varieties with new high quality banana varieties to add value. Up to this point, it can be confirmed that banana tree development in Hanoi is going in the right direction and there is no sign of "hot" development.

However, the reality shows that the current banana production scale is still fragmented and scattered, so it is difficult to invest in product preservation as well as product consumption; in addition, the cultivation process is not synchronized, so the product is not uniform; Improper harvesting, transportation, packaging, and storage leads to a high rate of damaged products (25-30%). On the other hand, banana yield in Hanoi is only 25.86 tons/ha, at a low level and still mainly consumed in the domestic market with the rate of about 90% of total output…

- So, in your opinion, what is the solution for sustainable development of banana trees, ensuring the increasing demand of the market and towards export, contributing positively to the overall growth goal of the Agriculture industry?

- Along with reviewing the planting area, in the coming time, the Agriculture sector will support to plant new and replace 450ha of bananas - using high-yield and high-quality varieties; invest in a drip irrigation system, using pulleys to transport bananas during the harvesting process; at the same time granting the planting area code on the system... to create a new foundation for banana exports to Japan, Korea, and China - markets with high demand for this fruit. Besides, supporting and promoting connections with large enterprises with experience in the field of banana production and export for joint ventures and associations with cooperatives and households, thereby orienting the development of trees. High quality bananas clearly.

Hanoi has set a target that by 2025, exports will reach 20-30% of annual banana production and have 60-80% of banana growing areas achieve a certificate of food safety eligibility. It can be said that, with the available foundation and radical solutions, Hanoi will form and develop banana production areas in a safe direction, meeting the consumption requirements of the people of the capital and exports, contributing to the restructuring of agricultural production and raising incomes for farmers.

- Thank you very much!