Page 52 - Agricultural innovation

Hoa Agricultural Cooperative, Luong Hoa citrus cooperative as well as green skin pomelo cooperative
groups in Long My commune, Giong Trom district.
Currently, the cooperative’s green skin pomelo products have been cultivated according to VietGap
standards to ensure safety and high quality. The cooperative has established a technical team with 5
members who are masters, engineers specialized in agriculture and the best pomelo growers to guide
members on how to care for, fertilize, and prevent pests and diseases for each type of tree. The members
of the cooperative always pay attention to providing adequate nutrients for plants according to the 4
right principles, including: the right type, the right dose, the right time and the right method.
Accordingly, depending on the stage of flowering and fruiting, the cooperative members will apply
appropriate fertilizers. Therefore, the cooperative has linked up with reputable input suppliers and
made general purchases for households in the area at a lower price than that in the free market and
with better quality.

Figure 14. Pomelo garden adapted to climate change in Giong Tom, Ben Tre province
Source: IPSARD, survey in 2022

In recent years, in order to cope with climate change and especially to cope with saline intrusion
in orchards, the member of cooperative have applied an internal surrounding dikes and multi-crops
garden of circular agriculture. A typical example is the model of a pomelo garden of the director of the
cooperative Nguyen Van Bay. His orchard has an area of about 4 hectares with 1,500 green-skinned
pomelo trees planted with many different types of trees to create very reasonable cultivation layers. The
highest layer is the fruit-bearing coconut tree, followed by the green-skinned pomelo tree combined
with sugar tangerine, and the lowest level is the ancient coconut tree and vegetable tree. Especially
between the plantings are ditches for fish and water palm trees to be able to absorb the salinity in
the water. All create an eco-cool that limits water evaporation and keeps plants moist, reducing the
amount of daily watering. An installed sprinkler system can help the gardener control the irrigation
regime through a mobile phone.
In particular, with the support of the IFAD Ben Tre project, Mr. Bay’s orchard is equipped with a
system to monitor water salinity and warn of pests.

Agricultural Innovation Review in CLV Countries 45