Planting sandalwood trees intercropped with guava, a new model in Nghia Dan

Nghia Hong commune officials visit family gardens. Photo: Minh Thai

In recent years, some farming households in the areaNghia Dan districtboldly converted crops from ineffective orchards to crops with high economic value such as the model of planting sandalwood trees intercropped with guava.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Bien's family in Hong Binh hamlet, Nghia Hong commune has nearly 1.5 hectares of garden land, previously growing forestry combined with raising livestock but the economic efficiency was not high. In 2020, through research on the media, it was found thatsandalwoodhas high economic value, the family boldly researched and converted crops.

The entire garden area, her family planned to plant more than 300 sandalwood trees combined with 600 Taiwanese guava trees. Thanks to the suitable climate and soil, the sandalwood trees grow well. The guava trees alone have yielded a harvest of 250-300 million VND/year for the past 2 years.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Bien, Hong Binh hamlet, Nghia Hong commune, takes care of the garden. Photo: Minh Thai

Ms. Nguyen Thi Bien shared: "After learning and knowing that Sandalwood combined with guava trees is very good, I boldly planted it experimentally.intercropping modelSandalwood trees in guava gardens. With this model, sandalwood trees grow very well, and guava trees are harvested regularly.

The model of intercropping guava with sandalwood is a short-term model to support long-term, guava is harvested quickly, and has higher economic efficiency than some other fruit trees. However, to achieve such results, gardeners must be diligent and take a lot of care. This model takes advantage of the work of fertilizing, spraying pesticides, and care. In addition, when the sandalwood tree has a canopy, it can help the guava tree not have fruit spots.

It is known that sandalwood is a semi-parasitic tree so it can be intercropped, the tree is easy to grow, and requires little care. Sandalwood trees will be harvested after 8-10 years, with a planting density of 1,000-1,500 trees/ha, yielding 30 kg of core/tree, which is of high value. However, from the fourth year, the tree has provided income from leaves to make high-quality tea and seeds to extract essential oils.

Intercropping not only saves production costs but also develops household economy from harvesting guava. Photo: Minh Thai

The model of growing sandalwood trees intercropped with guava of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Bien's family is a new model in the locality, opening up a direction for many farming households who want to change crops, renovate mixed gardens to grow fruit trees combined with perennial trees, both saving production costs and developing the household economy.

Mr. Ho Sy Minh - Vice Chairman of Nghia Hong Commune People's Committee said: The success of the sandalwood intercropping guava model of Mrs. Bien's family is also a model for people to learn, study and replicate the method. However, to effectively intercrop these trees, people should also learn and apply the best planting and tree care techniques in addition to the knowledge that local officials in combination with organizations and training guides.