Macadamia trees from farmers in Ban Lau township initially showed effective results. Picture: Lighthouse.
In Ban Lau Township in Muong Khuong District (Lao Cai), there are now dozens of hectares of macadamia trees spontaneously planted by people. According to people, the climate and soil here are well suited for this plant, so the macadamia tree grows and develops quite well.
Mr. Luu Phu in Na Loc 2 Village of Ban Lau Township said the area of macadamias his family planted eight years ago was originally harvested. Mr. Phu said that taking care of this tree is not difficult and does not require much effort, but it brings higher income than many other trees.
Not yet in harvest time, but Mr. Luu Phu’s macadamia tree is full and quite large. When eaten, macadamia nuts are crunchy, fresh and sweet, with a distinctive aroma.
Luu Phu said the macadamia tree was known as the “queen of dried fruit” of the central highlands, but nobody thought it would be grown in Ban Lau. Currently, his family owns about 500 macadamia trees, of which about 300 trees are more than 8 years old, the rest are just over 1 year old.
“The first harvest was sporadic, my family only got 2 quintals of fruit, but the following year production skyrocketed, minus family expenses, about VND 70 million,” said Mr. Luu Phu.
Mr. Nguyen Van Mao, vice chairman of the Ban Lau Municipality People’s Committee, said the macadamia area in the municipality is about 30 hectares, mainly from people spontaneously planting in Na Loc 1, 2 and 3 villages, without any support policy.
So far there are households that planted their own fruit about 8 years ago and harvested 1-2 harvests. The area of macadamia harvested by households is only about 0.3 ha. Given the effectiveness, people in the community have continued to spontaneously plant up to 30 hectares over the past two to three years.
“In terms of care, people weed and prune after harvesting the fruit and apply phosphate fertilizers during flowering. However, care is limited only to the traditional method and does not use scientific and technical methods. In addition, there is no professional agency to guide people to make the macadamia tree bloom and bear good fruit,” said Mr. Nguyen Van Mao.
Macadamia trees in the area of Van Hoa Township (Lao Cai City) bear fruit sporadically, the effect is not clear. Picture: Lighthouse.
Meanwhile, Mr. Le Thanh Hoa, head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Muong Khuong District, said the district has not yet planned to include macadamia trees in the local agricultural development orientation. According to surveys and evaluations, macadamia trees have not yet achieved the desired yield, in particular, the production of this fruit is currently mainly sold by private individuals due to the small quantity, lack of affiliated shops and production consumption. Therefore, the county’s agricultural sector does not encourage people to grow macadamia trees on a large scale.
Macadamia trials are known to be taking place in some places in Nam Pung and Y Ty communes (Bat Xat district) and Ta Phoi and Van Hoa communes (Lao Cai city) in Lao Cai province. However, due to the impact of snow and rain, the Macadamia area in Bat Xat district was completely damaged. As for the macadamia area in Lao Cai city, the tree grows normally and has flowers, but the fruiting rate is low.
At the farm of Hoang Lan Trading Co.,Ltd. in the municipality of Van Hoa (city of Lao Cai), the company planted about 11,000 macadamia seedlings on an area of about 20 hectares 5 years ago. So far, however, only about 10 hectares of this tree species remain.
The macadamia tree here has a very low rate of fruiting, although the tree is growing and developing normally. According to the manager, later this year the company will apply fertilizers to stimulate fruiting of the tree in order to evaluate the effectiveness of this tree. Although the tree is grown very methodically, the effect so far has not been as expected.
It is known that from 2016, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development approved the development plan of Northwest and Central Highlands Macadamia to 2020, with development potential to 2030. And Lao Cai is not included in the development plan of this crop in the Northwest provinces.
In Lao Cai, there has been no specific assessment and research by the professional industry on macadamia trees. According to preliminary statistics, there are about 120 hectares of macadamia trees in the entire province of Lao Cai, some areas have already been harvested.
The agricultural sector of Lao Cai Province has planned and contacted the Vietnam Macadamia Association to study and evaluate the growing conditions of this crop in some local areas.
The natural state of Ban Lau Township (Muong Khuong District, Lao Cai) is a gray-brown area that lies far to the west, so the weather is dry and hot in February to March. On the other hand, the area where macadamia is grown is at an altitude of about 300 m above sea level. Macadamia trees that have already been harvested grow in this area.
Meanwhile, in Van Hoa Township (Lao Cai Town, formerly in Bao Thang District), the weather deviates greatly from the east, so the weather is humid in February to March, especially the temperature in the May to June period is very high, maybe over 40 degrees Celsius… Macadamia trees cultivated in this area have not proved effective.