Southern orchards prepare unique fruits for 2012 Tet

Farmers in Mekong Delta are trying to create unique fruit products which they will sell during the 2012 Tet season. Square and gold bullion-shaped watermelons, wine gourd-shared pomelos will be available on the market soon.

Every year when Tet nears, farmers in the Mekong Delta try to create some kinds of unique fruit products to celebrate Tet. The products for this Tet are always more special than that offered last Tet, and of course, the unique products are always much more expensive than normal ones.

From square watermelon to gold bullion-shaped watermelon

Square watermelons have appeared in the fields in Can Tho City for the last several years. In 2010, the first watermelon in gold bullion shape appeared in Can Tho, which was the piece of work of a talented farmer who specialized in cultivating vegetables in Binh Thuy ward of Binh Thuy district – Tran Thanh Liem.

The square watermelons created by Liem in 2005 have become more popular to domestic consumers. After that, in 2010, he launched into the market the watermelon with the peel in yellow color which had gold bullion shape, which was praised as a bold breakthrough.

When gold bullion-shaped watermelons first hit the market, they were sold at 7-8 million dong per pair, while Liem sold at his field at 3 million dong only.

Liem has decided to create a new kind of watermelon products for 2012 Tet. In order to make the gold bullion shaped watermelon more original, Liem has created the word “good luck” in Chinese letter in every watermelon.

According to Liem, with the “gold bullion” weighing 1.7 kilos and more, the word would appear lower than the watermelon peel. Meanwhile, with the gold bullion weighing 1-1.3 kilos, the word would appear above the peel.

Liem plans to market 400 pairs of watermelons of different kinds this Tet, including 250 couples of watermelons in gold bullion shape. Though it is now just the sowing time, a lot of people, hearing about the new products of Liem, have come to place orders directly with him.

Meanwhile, Liem still keeps cautious when talking about his new products, because he said the weather is unpredictable this year, which is really a big difficulty for growing rice, and even more difficult for growing watermelons in accordance with the desired shapes.

Therefore, Liem said, he will only be able to reveal the exact prices of watermelons one month just before Tet.

However, Liem has said that gold bullion watermelon would be priced no less than 4.5 million dong per pair, while square watermelon no less than 2 million dong.

Wine gourd-shaped pomelos with “best wishes” word

Chair of the Nam Roi Pomelo Club of the Phu Huu commune of Chau Thanh district of Hau Giang province Vo Trung Thanh said that to date, some 3000 Nam Roi brand pomelos have been created as having the wine gourd shape and have been ordered by partners.

Also according to Thanh, the club has prepared 8000 patterns to define the shape of the pomelos. However, clients seem to set higher requirements on pomelos this year: they want big pomelos with clear words and no flaw. Especially, the word “best wishes” in Vietnamese will not have the same color with the pomelo’s peel, but will have another color to become outstanding.

Thanh said that it requires a lot of exertion to create the special pomelos. Due to the changes of the weather, farmers just can be sure of the success level of 60 percent. It is estimated that 4000 pomelos would hit the market this Tet, priced at 700,000 dong per one product.

The flower which still does not have name

In the Sa Dec flower village, Nguyen Van Giau, a farmer, feels happy with a new kind of flower he has successful grown. In 2010, Giau could create some 10 baskets of the flowers and gave them as gifts to friends. Later, as people said they like the flowers very much, Giau decided to develop this kind of flowers for commerce purpose.

Giau declined to reveal the name of the flower, saying that he will declare the name of the flower when he can be sure of the big output.

Source: SGTT

Tags: Vietnam Fruit exports