 Nguyen Van Duc, Eden Farm’s director, is checking netted muskmelons. (Photo: VOV) |
Following its success growing netted muskmelons in greenhouses in Ho Chi Minh city, the Eden Farm company has expanded the model in Bình Thuận. Four net houses have been built in Thuan Hoa commune, Ham Thuan Bac district, with automatic temperature sensors, convection fans, two reservoirs, and an Israeli irrigation system worth 130 thousand USD.
Eden Farm muskmelons are now being sold at major domestic supermarkets like Big C, Co.op Mart, and Lotte Mart, and the company is now seeking export markets and diversifying its tropical produce to include cherry tomatos, baby muskmelons, seedless watermelons, and pear-shaped melons.
Nguyen Van Duc, Eden Farm’s director, said, “We hope to link farmers, investors, and partners. Eden Farm will teach farmers agricultural model and will buy all of their produce.”
He added, “If they have a cultivation area of 5,000 square meters or more, we’ll provide Global GAP evaluation for partners under the Eden Farm brand. Our company wants to have large material zones to ensure enough material input for our key export partners.”
Although Eden Farm isn’t the first company to grow netted muskmelons in Binh Thuan province, it is the first to apply Global GAP standards to netted muskmelons.
 Pham Cong Ba is inspecting a netted muskmelon garden of Eden Farm. (Photo: VOV) |
Pham Cong Ba of the provincial Agricultural Encouragement Center, says that the model is expected to deliver Binh Thuan’s safe agricultural produce to the world.
According to Ba, “Binh Thuan’s muskmelons have achieved Global GAP certification, paving the way for the province to export safe produce. In the current agricultural revolution Eden Farm in Thuan Hoa is one of the vanguard models.”
Ham Minh Dragon Fruit Trading and Service Cooperative 30 in Ham Thuan Nam district has applied high-tech in accordance with Viet GAP and Global GAP standards, says Le Phuong Chi, the cooperative’s director.
Chi said, “The farming households who use the Global GAP process to grow produce for the European market will be directly connected with buyers, but for Binh Thuan’s dragon fruit, and Vietnam’s farm produce in general, to enter the European market will require support from functional agencies at all levels.”
Phan Van Tan, Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, says Binh Thuan’s farm produce of Global GAP standards will soon be available in the European market.
“By the end of this year or early next year, we plan to invite experts from the European Union to evaluate the quality of Binh Thuan’s farm produce,” Tan said.