2m tall kale attracts customers

After black tomatoes, an imported kale variety that is nearly 2 meters tall and has leaves harvested continuously for half a year, grown by many gardeners in Da Lat, is creating a "fever" among housewives.

New kale variety introduced to Da Lat

Since late 2015, many gardeners in Da Lat have begun experimenting with growing kale imported from the US. The special feature of this variety is that the mature plant is 1.5 to 2m tall, and the leaves can be harvested continuously for about half a year. Some gardeners have said they have successfully grown 5 varieties of kale, of which the variety called starbor with dark green stems and leaves is very popular because of its high nutritional value.

A survey of fruit and vegetable stores on social networks shows that this item is often in short supply, with supply not meeting demand despite relatively high prices. A representative of a store specializing in providing clean vegetables in Da Lat said that each day this unit distributes about 70kg to the market but recently had to refuse many orders due to not ensuring supply.

Kale gives continuous harvest for half a year after one month of care.

Ms. Thanh Truc (living in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City) said that every week she orders from a friend who ships from Da Lat, but sometimes she has to wait a few days to receive the goods or the quantity is not as expected because many people are also hunting for them.

“Kale can be processed into many different dishes such as salad, juice, soup... so it's easy to change the taste of daily meals, especially families with small children like mine really like it,” said Ms. Truc.

On average, each kilogram of kale costs between VND80,000 and VND90,000, and most of it is packaged in half-kilogram bags. According to some vegetable farms in Da Lat, kale is a new product and does not have a product quality certificate, so it will take more time to enter large supermarket systems. Due to the unstable consumption market, mainly distributed through social networks and acquaintances, the price also changes frequently, sometimes up to VND120,000, but when the price drops, it is only about VND35,000 per kilogram.

Mr. Dinh Xuan Huynh, owner of a vegetable farm on Nguyen Tu Luc Street (Ward 8, Da Lat City), said that he first planted kale two years ago but had no buyers, so he had to uproot the whole garden at harvest time. Although more and more customers are looking for it and there is a shortage of products, he is still quite hesitant to plant a new variety because the investment cost is quite expensive, each 200-gram bag of seeds imported from the US costs more than 1 million VND.

According to Mr. Huynh, kale attracts customers because it is rich in nutrients that are good for health such as fiber to support the digestive process, antioxidants to reduce the risk of skin degeneration, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Women also prefer to use kale because it is a fat-free and low-calorie food, suitable for dieters.

Kale on the Vietnamese market is around 70,000 VND/kg.

In addition to the kale leaf product that is creating a fever online, many people have been looking for seeds and seedlings to grow at home. Understanding this psychology, a vegetable business in Ho Chi Minh City has just provided seedlings for 79,000 VND, which can be harvested after 2 weeks of care and committed to being suitable for tropical soil and climate.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Truong - Deputy Director of Lam Dong Province Agricultural Extension Center said that the new kale variety was brought back by Da Lat farmers to grow spontaneously and achieved very good productivity. However, because it is still in the trial planting and disease monitoring period, the center has not yet widely introduced it to farmers.

“We will consider carefully before popularizing the variety to avoid repeating the case of farmers massively planting strange varieties when the consumption market is not stable, leading to price drops like what happened with black tomatoes,” said Mr. Truong.

According to VNE