Planting 35 foreign papaya trees, earning 15 million VND in the first crop

Because the two-rice land around the house is high and lacks water, it is difficult to produce and the yield is low, so Mr. Ho Van Phuong is looking for a way to change the crop structure and increase income per unit area.

Taiwanese papaya growing model of Mr. Ho Van Phuong's family in Hamlet 12, Quynh Hoa Commune (Quynh Luu). Photo: Hong Dien

Through researching information about plant varieties on mass media and going to the southern provinces, he realized that papaya trees are easy to grow, have a very high yield and are easy to sell. In 2016, he decided to go to the Central Institute of Plant Breeding to learn techniques in planting and fertilizing, then he bought 35 Taiwanese papaya seedlings to plant.

This is an easy-to-grow plant, suitable for dry weather conditions, so after 6 months of care, the papaya tree yields large, evenly ripe fruits with yellow flesh and a sweet, aromatic taste. With just the above number of trees, Mr. Phuong harvested 1.5 tons of fruit and traders bought them in the garden for 10,000 VND/kg, earning about 15 million VND. Counting from the first fruiting, after two months, he harvested the next batches of papaya.

Each Thai papaya tree yields about 180 kg of fruit. Photo: Hong Dien

Realizing the economic efficiency of papaya is very promising, he has filled the land in an area of ​​1,500 m² around the house and bought 200 more Thai papaya trees to plant. According to Mr. Phuong, each Thai papaya weighs 3.5 kg, one tree yields 1.8 quintals.

During the care process, he always fertilizes with organic fertilizer, decomposed manure combined with lime powder to kill parasites that cause leafhoppers and leaf rolling in papaya trees. At the same time, he covers the ground with a layer of straw to retain moisture and loosen the soil, preventing weeds from growing. When the tree flowers and bears fruit, he increases the amount of potassium fertilizer to ensure the sweetness of the fruit. In addition, to have large, evenly sized fruit and achieve high yield, Mr. Phuong also prunes the fruit when it is still small.

With scientific growing methods, Mr. Phuong's family's papaya is considered a clean product.

Thanks to its beautiful appearance and high nutritional value, papaya is popular in the market; traders come to his family to buy the product.

In order to take advantage of the empty land under the tree, Mr. Phuong also intercropped wax potatoes and pumpkins. After 5 months, he harvested 450 kg of wax potatoes at a selling price of 20,000 VND/kg; after nearly 3 months, he harvested 1 ton of pumpkin at a price of 3,000 VND/kg. Currently, Mr. Phuong's model has been visited by many local people, who have learned from his experience and applied it to their families.

Many people come to Mr. Phuong's house to visit and learn how to grow foreign papaya. Photo: Hong Dien

Mr. Ho Van Phuong's successful model of growing Taiwanese and Thai papaya varieties has contributed to diversifying crops in Quynh Luu. In particular, with a scientific approach, without using pesticides, the fruit ripens completely naturally, so every year he supplies a quantity of clean fruit to the market, helping consumers feel secure when using it./.