Pleased with the Durian Garden technology

Regarding durian, many people will think that it is a product of the western region of the river. Currently, however, durian is very attached to the east of the red earth. Amidst the greenery of the vast rubber, cashew and pepper forests are the verdant durian gardens which bring much income to the farmers here.

We drove to Phuoc Long Town, one of the durian ‘capitals’ of Binh Phuoc province, in the busy atmosphere of the last days of the year the durian growers here have a newfound joy that their durian has just been approved. Phase II) for official export to China. Despite the rush at the end of the year, people here do not forget to take care of the garden in order to get the highest yield and quality for the next harvest.

However, unlike the scene where workers race against time to water and fertilize, thanks to the application of digital technology and mechanization in production, people can still have fun celebrating Tet just with a smartphone in hand , while completing tasks quickly and accurately.

These days, when we come to the VietGAP Gia Bao Durian Garden Ecofarm of Mr. Nguyen Minh Hieu, Deputy Director of Binh Phuoc Digital Agriculture Cooperative in Phuoc Tin Municipality (Phuoc Long City), our gaze falls on the irrigation pipe system. Water, irrigation of thousands of durian trees, modern lawn mowers, automatic sprayers imported from Japan twine around each root to process the technique, flowers and fruits for the durian garden of Ri6, Dona to catch up with the official exports to China.

Standing next to the durian roots with a brand new traceability stamp, hoping to give the product the benefit of “going abroad,” Mr. Hieu said not only to comply with the regulations but also his family as well as customers’ gardeners here in invest in automatic watering and spraying systems. In particular, Mr. Hieu also recently invested in drones, INAMCO automatic sprayers, self-propelled lawn mowers…billions of dongs for gardening, which everyone admired and admired.

According to Mr Hieu, most people in Phuoc Long Town – the busiest town in Binh Phuoc – work in the service sector and workers are unfamiliar with agriculture, let alone focused on factories that process cashew nuts. With more than 10 hectares of VietGAP Durian in the age of harvest, gardeners cannot handle the enormous workload of the farm without using advanced and modern technology and equipment for production. Although the amount of investment is quite large, it is about the same compared to the amount of labor hired. On the other hand, thanks to technology, it has solved the harvest in time, saved fertilizers and pesticides, and made the products uniform, eye-catching and popular in the market.

“Now I invest more than 100 million dongs per hectare on average, in return I free up a lot of work, control watering and spraying of plants. In addition, since the application of this technical model, the productivity of the durian garden has increased by about 30%. The durians in particular are produced with beautiful and uniform designs, and the product quality is also improved as it is cultivated in moderation according to the seasonal schedule,” said Mr. Hieu enthusiastically.

Gardening only needs a smartphone

Mr. Hieu is not satisfied with the existing technological advances and continues to apply the application of the Internet of Things (IoT) in production to minimize the amount of pesticides in agriculture, protect public health and balance the orchard ecosystem to obtain. In addition, to share the experience of durian production, Mr. Hieu is one of the founding members of Binh Phuoc Digital Agriculture Cooperative and holds the role of deputy director of the cooperative.

“With the advanced application, just a tap on the smartphone is automatic gardening. Early in the morning I could sit comfortably at a small table by the window overlooking the garden, have breakfast while chatting with my wife and children and watching the durian garden. Tending the durian garden manually would take all day, but now it only takes 2-3 hours.

However, the application of technology in agriculture does not mean abandoning technology at all stages. The rest of us after freeing the work is to pay attention to the condition of the trees, spend time visiting the trees in the garden to better understand the disease of the trees, to provide timely treatment for diseased trees to have fruit does not meet the desired standards,” said Mr. Hieu.

According to Pham Viet Thuat, chairman of the People’s Committee of Phuoc Tin Municipality, the place with the largest durian area in the province, some households are also recently starting to experiment with smart farming methods to save labor, although the initial investment planning costs high are techniques is also quite expensive.

“In a period of labor shortages, agricultural production materials are increasing, the domestic market is uncertain, high-tech application production according to official export standards is the only way to increase the value of agricultural products. agricultural products in general and local durian in particular.

Currently, many Durian models have appeared in the area, adopting mechanization and high technology in production. Gia Bao Ecofarm is a pioneering model and has achieved certain successes. This is a model people should learn to reduce production costs and increase profits. We will be replicating this model in the near future,” Thuat pointed out.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Binh Phuoc Province, the nature is quite favorable for Binh Phuoc as it has extremely fertile basaltic red soil, especially this soil contains high sulfur content, which helps local durian products have high quality , short cultivation time. Currently, Binh Phuoc has 3,000 hectares of durian, each hectare specialized in durian cultivation in the area brings the gardeners a profit of hundreds of million dongs/year. This is the motivation for farmers to focus on production and develop the area towards quality improvement to meet the needs of companies and export markets including China.

According to the provincial direction of development, the total area of ​​Durian will be enlarged to 8,000-10,000 ha in the coming period. In order to ensure the construction of a stable raw material area, Binh Phuoc will develop towards high-tech agriculture, link production and technical support to local durian growers to apply the most advanced techniques, and establish a large specialized cultivation area for export.

“Currently, the place has prepared about 1,500 hectares of durian for official export to China, Binh Phuoc Digital Agriculture Cooperative is one of the cooperatives with good production processes, which has just been recognized by the province for fresh durian products with OCOP 4. The locality selects this cooperative also as the manager for local durian export,” confirmed Mr. Hoang Manh Thuong, Deputy Director of Binh Phuoc Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.