Growing specialty fruits linked with orchard tourism development

With a large area dedicated to fruit cultivation and a reputation for high-quality produce, many localities in Dong Nai Province are promoting eco-tourism and orchard tourism models that attract visitors.

Tourists excitedly check in at the specialty marian plum orchard in Tan Phu commune. Photo: Binh Nguyen

Notably, many farmers have chosen their own niche by collecting and cultivating rare and unique fruit varieties, enabling them to sell products at higher prices. Numerous orchards have become attractive destinations where visitors can enjoy specialty fruits right at the source.

Specialty fruits draw visitors to orchards

Over the past two months, Nguyen Hiep’s marian plum orchard in Tan Phu Commune has welcomed hundreds of visitors every weekend. Guests come to experience fruit picking, enjoy freshly harvested fruits, drink fresh marian plum juice, and taste processed products such as jams. Although there is no entrance fee, visitors purchase fruits directly at the orchard at around VND 50,000 per kilogram during the harvest season, ensuring a stable income for the farmer.

Nguyen Hiep said that a long-standing marian plum tree usually yields several hundred kilograms of fruit for the garden. To date, many customers have placed orders, so the garden diligently packs and ships goods to provinces and cities nationwide. With an area of several thousand square meters, in addition to planting about 30 marian plum trees that are over 30 years old, the garden also grows many unique specialties, such as: chocolate persimmon, date palm, durian, longan, red-fleshed jackfruit, and a variety of other fruits such as: mangosteen, durian, pomelo, coconut, and so on. Accordingly, during other seasons of the year, the garden still harvests from many different specialty crops.

Nguyen Xuan Hai's date palm garden in Loc Thanh commune, which has about 600 yellow and red date palm trees, is also a place that attracts many visitors to explore and enjoy "unique" specialties. In the garden, there are many batches of date palms that have been planted for 6-7 years, and some areas have newly planted trees that are 3-4 years old and are bearing their first fruits. To develop a garden tourism farm on an area of about 6 hectares, in addition to planting date palms, Hai also collects many unique plant varieties, such as Peruvian pomegranate, Japanese loquat, Mexican purple plum, sim guava, and purple longan, among others.

Nguyen Xuan Hai proudly showed off: Yellow date palm fruits sold at the garden range from 200,000-300,000 VND per kg; red date palms are rarer and more difficult to care for, so they have a higher selling price, sometimes reaching 500,000-700,000 VND per kg in the market. I invested a large amount of capital to buy purebred tissue-cultured foreign date palm varieties; I spent dozens of millions of VND on many trees, buying them as ornamental plants. In addition to selling fruit, the garden also plans to sell date palm seedlings as ornamental plants, which brings high economic value.

Nguyen Xuan Hai introduces the date palm garden in Loc Thanh commune.

Investment opportunities for unique tourism products

Planting specialty trees to attract visitors is also a direction many farms and eco-tourism areas are heading towards. Among them, many investors are not afraid to invest large amounts of capital and apply high technology to plant specialty trees for sustainable development.

Tu Tung business establishment in Long Thanh Commune, which has invested in dozens of hectares of jaboticaba (Brazilian grape tree) and various ornamental plants, is also a destination that attracts visitors to enjoy local specialties and the pastime of collecting ornamental plants. In addition to the land it has purchased, this establishment also rents or borrows land to grow trees. To date, it has expanded to nearly a dozen hectares devoted to fruit trees and ornamental plants of various kinds. For jaboticaba alone, the establishment has expanded to nearly 20 hectares, divided into several different areas; some areas have trees that are 20 years old, some have trees that are more than 10 years old, and others have trees planted only a few years ago or that have just been propagated.

Luu Sung Bat, representative of Tu Tung business establishment, shared: Although I am a business owner investing in many fields, for more than 20 years, I have collected and planted a wide variety of fruit trees and ornamental plants. The jaboticaba trees I grow in pots use clean soil that the facility makes itself according to a special formula. Currently, the farm harvests nearly 20 tons of fresh fruit per year, so in addition to selling fresh fruit, I have also invested in cold storage to preserve the fruit and a processing workshop to turn jaboticaba into many different products, such as wine, juice, jam, dried jaboticaba, and vinegar, among others. For the long-term orientation, in addition to supplying the domestic market, the facility will aim for the export market, which is still very rich in potential, because this special fruit, which is very good for health, is increasingly popular with consumers worldwide.

Khai Farm in Long Thanh commune is another popular eco-tourism destination. This farm pioneered the application of high technology to grow unique specialty varieties. Among them, the farm has expanded hectares of foreign grape varieties such as: peony, fingernail, black pearl, pink tip, cherry grapes, etc. In addition to local speciality fruits, Khai Farm also collects dozens of speciality fruit tree varieties, such as yellow-fleshed rambutan, durian jackfruit, red longan, Luc Ngan lychee, royal banana, among others, to serve tourists who love garden tourism. Tourists coming to the fruit garden to play, relax, enjoy fresh fruits, and rural cuisine can also participate in farming, harvesting, and processing activities like a real farmer.

Nguyen Thi Hong Chuyen, Director of Co Ba Chuyen Co., Ltd. in Tan Trieu ward, commented: Currently, consumer demand for specialty fruits is increasing. Accordingly, in addition to trading Tan Trieu pomelo with orange leaves, I also hunt for rare specialties such as guava pomelo, pomelo wine, pomelo juice, pomelo essential oil, among others, to supply the market. Especially, recently, the company has been promoting the ‘ngau’ fruit product line, which is a rustic fruit widely grown in Tan An commune. This special fruit, when ripe, has a very distinctive aroma, so many families choose to display it on the altar during the traditional Tet holiday. ‘Ngau’ fruit is also used to soak in wine as a precious medicine with many health benefits for users. However, currently, the number of these specialty trees is very small, and they are often scattered in some households in Tan An commune. Accordingly, the company plans to cooperate with local households to preserve and multiply this valuable indigenous specialty tree variety.

Many farmers in Dong Nai, with creative thinking and good application of science and technology, have successfully grown many unique specialty fruits, bringing high value, such as Musang King durian, Black Thorn, golden star apple, seedless custard apple, cantaloupe, among others, sold at high prices. Many garden owners also combine eco-tourism to create added value for their products.

By Binh Nguyen – Translated by Mai Nga, Minho