To help farmers continue planting cashew trees instead of changing to other crops of higher economic value, Dong Nai province has announced to cooperate with BamBoo Capital Joint Stock Company to carry out a project creating large fields for farmers intercrop cocoa and cashew with a total area of 1,000 hectares.
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| Local farmers speak at the conference. |
To help farmers continue planting cashew trees instead of changing to other crops of higher economic value, Dong Nai province has announced to cooperate with BamBoo Capital Joint Stock Company to carry out a project creating large fields for farmers intercrop cocoa and cashew with a total area of 1,000 hectares.
This announcement was made at a conference on cocoa and cashew intercrop held by Dong Nai province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in coordination with BamBoo Capital JSC in Trang Bom district, Dong Nai on March 21.
Huynh Thanh Vinh, Director of the department, said there are 12 large field projects in the province with the cocoa and cashew intercrop project having the largest area.
According to Vinh, farmers have replaced cashew with other crops due to the unstable cashew price in previous years. However, the cashew area would recover if local authorities help farmers increase productivity and value.
Nguyen Thanh Hung, Deputy General Director of BamBoo Capital, said the company would adopt preferential policies for seedling, fertilizer and capital and ensure cocoa outlets for farmers participating in the project.
According to Le Thi Minh Tam, Head of the cocoa department of Bamboo Capital, the company will shoulder 20% of seedlings cost and 20% of spending on fertilizers. In the following years, cocoa farmers will pay just 50% of the fertilizer fee, and the remaining 50% will be cleared when they sell cocoa to Bamboo Capital. Besides, the company will provide technical support throughout the cultivating process.
In addition, Dong Nai will share 30% of costs of watering systems and an additional 30% of expenditures for seedlings with cocoa farmers.
BamBoo Capital expects to cultivate 111 hectares of cocoa-cashew intercrop in Trang Bom District in 2017.
Dong Nai currently has 39,000 hectares under cashew farming, down 11,000 hectares compared to a few years ago.
(Source: SGT)
