Growing cocoa and making money every week

Low input investment, easy to grow, stable income

After more than 15 years of diligent pursuit and dedication to cocoa trees, Mr Nguyen Van Suoi (Hai Suoi), an experienced farmer, was also elected by people in the profession as Director of Tich Khanh Agricultural Cooperative (in Tich Thien commune). He proudly shared that cocoa trees have helped people eradicate hunger and reduce poverty. Growing techniques are simple, anyone can do it.

Many years ago, he held 30 fields (3 ha) in his hand, but Mr Hai Suoi's family's living conditions could not improve, so he decided to go to Ben Tre to learn the cocoa growing model. After that, he discussed it with his family and chose 15 square meters of land to set up a garden to grow 1,200 trees.

In the early days, he encountered many difficulties because there were many varieties of cocoa, and when brought to a new land, growing techniques were also more difficult. However, with determination, diligence and meticulous care, this new tree does not pose a challenge for him.

Through monitoring, he found that cocoa trees are easy to grow, require little care, have low investment costs and bear fruit almost all year round. The price of seedlings is only VND 16,000/tree. Specialized planting enables cocoa to be planted thickly, with a density of 80 trees/1,000m2. If intercropped with a coconut garden, you can plant coconut trees at a distance of 7 - 8m/tree and intercrop cocoa in empty spots (about 40 cocoa trees and 20 coconut trees).

From the moment of planting to 18 months of age, the tree begins to flower. At about 22 months, the gardener had his first income from the cocoa garden. The 3rd year old tree has a fruit yield of 30kg/year. Each year after that, productivity increases by 5 - 10kg/tree. Up to now, Mr. Hai Suoi's cocoa garden has matured, giving stable productivity, with an output of about 80kg/tree/year.

More than half of the year (seasonal), from April to December of the lunar calendar, cocoa trees produce stable fruit yields. In the remaining period of the "hanging" garden (off-season), the output decreases by about 75%. Currently, cocoa prices are very stable, placing at an average of VND 5,500/kg. According to calculations, each year, Mr. Hai Suoi's 15 cocoa cans bring in nearly VND 500 million in income.

In reality, households with little arable land, about 2-3 gardens, can grow cocoa exclusively to cover their daily needs. Mr. Tran Van Mung (71 years old) in Tich Phuoc hamlet, Tich Thien commune, has 2,000 square meters planted with 150 cocoa trees. The tree is in its 7th year, so the yield of each tree is currently about 50kg/year. Thanks to the cocoa tree, for many years now his family has had an income every week to cover the family's living expenses.

“In the busy months, the garden harvests nearly 200kg of fruit/week, earning about VND 1.1 million. In a few "hanging" months, the output decreased to only about 50kg/week, so the income was nearly VND 300,000/week. I'm old and can't work, my income is mainly from cocoa", Mr Tran Van Mung - the old farmer, said.

He also added that the investment cost per month is only 1 bag (25kg) of NPK 20-20-15 fertilizer for the whole garden, and there is no additional cost. The total fertilizer cost for the whole year fluctuates around a few million VND. Minus expenses, income from Mr. Mung's cocoa garden reaches nearly VND 40 million/year.

“When the trees were blooming, I harvested 3-4 tons of cocoa beans every week. When there are few cocoa beans, I have about 1 ton/week left. Growing cocoa requires little effort and little cost. With 15 hours of labour, each year I only spend about 30 bags of NPK 20-20-15 fertilizer (25kg/bag). The remaining cocoa shells are composted and fertilized back into the garden. In addition, there is no need to spray anything, I only treat the garden when there is a disease, mainly to prevent rats", Mr Hai shared.

Growing cocoa intercrop with coconut increases income 2-3 times

Cocoa is one of the crops that has long been present in the Mekong Delta, commonly grown in many localities such as Ben Tre, Vinh Long, Tra Vinh, Soc Trang, Can Tho City...

In Vinh Long province, since 2006, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of this province has a project to support seedlings and transfer techniques for farmers to intercrop cocoa trees in fruit orchards, mainly for coconut gardens in Vung Liem and Tra On districts.

Mr. Nguyen Van Kieu (74 years old) living in Tich Phuoc hamlet has over 15,000 square meters of coconut and cocoa gardens. For each square meter of land, he planted 20 coconut trees interspersed with 40 cocoa trees. Through care, this old farmer said that tall trees can withstand saline water quite well (ranging from 1 - 2%).

Cocoa is increasingly attracting customers

Tich Khanh Agricultural Cooperative was established in 2007 with 7 initial and has now grown to 16 members. Thanks to the support from local authorities at all levels, especially the Department of Industry and Trade, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, and Vinh Long Cooperative Alliance, cooperatives are operating more and more effectively.

Raw cocoa beans are increasingly attracting customers, many partners have come to Tich Khanh Cooperative to purchase raw materials. Due to limited capacity, the cooperative cannot accept all requests. In 2024, the cooperative plans to expand its production area by 8 ha, equivalent to planting 10,000 new seedlings.