Although organic fertilizer can increase production costs by 1.5 times, bananas are sold for much higher prices than those produced traditionally.

A farmer in Thai Binh has changed the way many people think about organic production. He has been pursuing this path for 8 years and now he has reaped the sweet fruit of earning 1 billion VND/ha per year on his South American banana farm.

In the newly planted banana garden of Mr. Trung’s farm in Thai Binh, bananas are planted at a density of 4.5 m2 ^/ tree and fertilized with organic fertilizer. River water is brought to small canals in the garden for irrigation. Old banana stems, which often harbor diseased fungi, are peeled off by workers before fertilizing.

When the bananas were still small, Mr. Trung planted some types of melons to meet export demand. When the bananas were about 1 meter tall, the melons were ready to harvest. This method both prevents the leaching of fertilizer when the bananas were small and limits weeds.

According to Mr. Trung’s calculations, if using inorganic fertilizer, 1 hectare costs 18 million VND. Using organic fertilizer, the cost increases to nearly 30 million VND, but in return, when selling, the value of his 2 crops per year is about 2.7 billion VND, still ensuring a high profit.

Seeing the effectiveness, Mr. Trung has linked up and purchased products from several neighboring provinces with a total area of ​​up to 300 hectares. In the domestic market, he sells to large supermarkets and restaurants. His current export markets are Japan, Korea, China and Middle Eastern countries. In the future, he will expand exports to several new potential markets.