Strangely shaped fruits have appeared in recent years on the Vietnamese market during Tet. However, applied on guava in Hai Duong, this is the first time.
In agricultural production, farmers always think of good and creative ways to increase their income. In Hai Duong, there was a person who created unique guava in the shape of a gold bar with the word “Tai Loc”. That is Mr. Duong Van Nam, director of Nam Vu Clean Agriculture Cooperative with an address in Lien Mac commune, Thanh Ha district (Hai Duong). This locality is considered the largest guava-growing area in the province.
Mr. Duong Van Nam at his family’s guava garden in Lien Mac commune (Thanh Ha, Hai Duong).
Talking about the chance to come to the unique guava, Mr. Nam said that last May, during a trip to Bac Giang, he happened to see a friend pressing a mold on a mango. Feeling interested and wanting to apply it on his family’s guava, he immediately bought 500 molds for testing at the price of 20,000 VND/mold.
The injection mold is made of hard plastic, about 10-15cm in size, in the shape of a gold bar, embossed with the words Tai and Loc, and fastened with 6 screws.
Guava is shaped by a mold printed with the word Fortune.
Nam shared that when guava is as big as a finger, it starts to be put into the mold to shape, and after 2 months, it can be harvested.
Last July, the first batch of experimental guava was harvested. Due to hot weather, about 10% of the guava pressed in the mold was damaged and had to be discarded. The rest, he posted for sale on Zalo. Customers inside and outside the province ask to buy a lot, mainly from patrons and clean food stores. There are customers who order dozens of fruits. Guava shaped like that was initially sold by Mr. Nam for 15,000 VND.
This unique guava is sold for 15,000 VND.
Currently, Mr. Nam’s family is continuing to press the second batch and prepare for the harvest. He shared: “Just started testing, so my family self-assembled the mold, we can do it whenever we have free time, so it takes a lot of time and effort. We have to put each screw in, after harvesting, we open each one. .”
Currently, Mr. Nam is experimenting with molding on two varieties of Taiwanese guava and Thai guava. According to his long-term experience of growing guava, he said that Taiwanese guava is smaller and sweeter, and Thai guava is big but not as sweet. Therefore, the molding on Taiwanese guava is also more successful because the guava grows to fit the mold, while the Thai guava variety is prone to mold cracking.
Mr. Nam plans to increase the number of injection molds in the cooperative’s guava growing area.
Nam Vu Clean Agriculture Cooperative currently has about 30 hectares of guava cultivation. In the coming time, Mr. Nam plans to expand the molding on this guava-growing area to serve the needs of people during the Lunar New Year.