Supply not enough demand

He is currently receiving orders for melons from partners in Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong Province, according to Mr. Tran Bao Diep, Director of La’sfarm An Phong Hi-Tech Agricultural Cooperative (Hoai An District, Binh Dinh) The Demand is extremely large, especially for Huynh long melon products.

“Huynh Long melon variety has high sweetness and crunchiness, is currently very popular with consumers and is heavily consumed. Huynh Long Melon has a long fruit shape and a beautiful color. It is also a melon, but the price of Huynh long melon is always higher than honeydew melon at 5,000-7,000 VND/kg. Currently, long Huynh melon is priced at 40,000-42,000 VND/kg while honeydew melon is only 35,000-37,000 VND/kg, Queen Kim melon is even cheaper because it is a pear melon and not a melon.” , he said. Tran Bao Diep analyzed.

The Huynh Long melon is the most attractive variety today and easy to produce due to its good disease resistance, suitable for Binh Dinh climate. This variety only has problems in the rainy season, it loses latex, runs wires, root rot like all other varieties, but if grown in greenhouses it will limit the above phenomenon.

According to Mr. Diep, many partners in Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong currently need La’farm An Phong High-Industry Agricultural Cooperative as satellites with very large orders to supply melons. These are companies that specialize in supplying fruit products to the northern market, including cantaloupe. You need to place satellites in Binh Dinh because it is a convenient point for transporting goods to the north. When shipping from the south, the distance is twice as long, which doubles the shipping cost compared to shipping from Binh Dinh. More importantly, the shipping time also doubles, which is very detrimental to the preservation of the cantaloupe.

“Partners who buy cantaloupe in Binh Dinh are cheaper than in the south, save on transportation costs to the north market and ensure better quality thanks to shorter transit time. The company buys half and benefits from both sides,” explained Mr. Tran Bao Diep.

Mr Diep said the requirement for the partners is that they must have goods every week, at least 5 tons of melons/week, if it is more they will always buy socks. If you want to have 5 tons of high-tech melons in a week, the production site must have at least 1.2 ha of greenhouses. Covering an area of ​​1.2 ha, this greenhouse, which sows 2,000 m2 each week, ensures that 5 tons of melons are delivered to customers each week.

However, at present, La’sfarm An Phong Hi-Tech Agricultural Cooperative has only built one greenhouse with an area of ​​1,000m2 and is building three new greenhouses, each with 1,000m2. However, this area is still not enough to supply partners with at least 5 tons of melons per week, so the hi-tech agricultural cooperative La’farm An Phong has to connect with other places to have enough stable space for partners.

“The method of cooperation is that the partner invests in the construction of greenhouses and buys production equipment. La’sfarm An Phong High-Tech Agricultural Cooperative is responsible for the free transfer of melon cultivation techniques according to the production process has been controlled and applied in order to To produce products with synchronous quality according to the requirements of the partners There is an additional condition that the affiliate partner must supply products to the cooperative for at least 3 years.

During the unification, the cooperative will guide farmers from sowing to harvest and ensure the right process,” said Mr. Tran Bao Diep.

Fast ROI

Currently, to build a net house with an area of ​​1,000 m2, it needs to invest 270-300 million VND depending on when the material price is expensive or cheap. The installation of the cable system will cost another 20 million and the irrigation system another 70 million. The central irrigation control system costs 50 million and the pipe and drip irrigation system 20 million.

“If you build many greenhouses in the same area, you save on the cost of the irrigation system, then simply invest in a centralized irrigation control system in the first greenhouse, and the following greenhouses only need to invest in pipes and drip irrigation systems. Now the materials are not as scarce as they used to be, so the investment price has dropped a lot, but before I had to invest up to 450 million dong for a 1,000 m2 membrane house,” analyzed Mr. Tran Bao Diep.

Currently, La’sfarm An Phong Hi-tech Agriculture Cooperative is looking forward to collaborating with partners in Binh Dinh province with a minimum area of ​​8,000m2 in addition to 4,000m2 of existing greenhouse space. The difficulty is that when the cooperative poses the problem, the households are still afraid and even reject it because the initial investment is quite high compared to their capabilities.

High-tech melon production in greenhouses can produce 4 harvests per year, with a total break between harvests of about 2 months. The growth cycle of cantaloupe melon is 65 to 75 days depending on the variety, for example TL3 has only 65 days, Huynh Long Melon has 70 days and Honey Melon has 75 days.

“Investments in the cost of crop production from seeds, fertilizers, medicines, labour, substrates, electricity and water…about VND 60 million/1,000 square meter greenhouse. Each harvest on this area can collect about 5 tons of melons. The current selling price is 40,000 VND/kg of Huynh long melon, each crop yields 200 million VND, minus the investment cost of 60 million VND, and the net profit is 140 million VND. 4 harvests can be done every year, the net profit of 4 harvests is VND 560 million, which is enough to cover the entire cost of greenhouse installation,” calculated Mr. Tran Bao Diep.

In the climatic conditions of Binh Dinh, our cooperative has completed a complete process through many years of production. The cooperative has formulas for fertilizing the melon lines, each melon line has its own formula. The dosage of each fertilizer has been standardized so that when you do this you will achieve the required performance and product quality. The biggest concern in production is that the output is covered by the cooperative.

Director of La’sfarm An Phong High-Tech Agricultural Cooperative