Dong Thap (VNA) - Dong Thap province, the Mekong Delta’s largest mango producer,plans to increase the area under the fruit to 10,000ha next year, a topagriculture official has said.

Nguyen Phuoc Thien, Deputy Directorof the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said it would alsoinvest in infrastructure for concentrated mango-growing areas and developingits mango brand at home and abroad.

The province has 9,664ha ofmango orchards, mostly in Cao Lanh, Lap Vo and Thanh Binh districts and Cao Lanhand Sa Dec cities, 18 percent of the delta’s total.

Cat Chu and Hoa Loc mangoes areits two major varieties, with the former accounting for 60 percent of themango-growing area and the latter for 30 percent.

Thien said the province has anaverage yield of 11 tonnes per hectare per year.

Cat Chu offers profits of 115million VND (5,000 USD) per hectare per year and Hoa Loc, 200 million VND (8,600USD), he said.

More and more farmers are usingadvanced techniques to improve yield and quality. Those who grow Cat Chu and HoaLoc now use bags to cover young mangoes to protect them from pests. This methodalso helps reduce the use of pesticides, gives the fruits an attractiveappearance and increases yields by 20-30 percent.    

More than 6,300ha of orchardsnow fruit in the off-season, when farmers can get 10,000 VND per kilogrammemore than during the main season.

Doan Thanh Hien, a member ofthe My Xuong Mango Cooperative in Cao Lanh district, was one of the province’sfirst farmers to adopt good agricultural practices (GAP) standards to growmangoes in the off-season. The main harvest season is April-May.

The province has focused on GAPin recent years and now has mangoes grown to VietGAP quality on 181ha andGlobalGAP quality on 42ha.

It exports the fruit to anumber of markets, including the US and Australia.

It has helped its four mangoco-operatives and 37 cooperative groups link up with companies in HCM City andHanoi to export the fruit to the Republic of Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Russiaand China.     

Mango is one of the five keyagricultural produce in Dong Thap’s agricultural restructuring plan for theperiod up to 2020.

It targets output of 125,000tonnes worth 1.9 trillion VND (81.9 million USD) this year, up 269 billion VND fromlast year, according to the department./.