Ke Sach’s purple star apple ready for export

In 2013, the area of purple star apple in Ke Sach district (Soc Trang) was only about 80ha, mainly concentrated in Xuan Hoa commune, in which the area for stable fruit production is 15ha. Until recently, the purple star apple has spread to many localities in the district with an area of up to 1,800 ha, with more than 1,500 ha giving fruits, accompanied by an output of more than 30,000 tons/year.

From the scattered and spontaneous production, until now, purple star apple growers have joined the organized production in a chain of consumption links with 5 core cooperatives. The purple star apple planting cooperatives have all received transferred science and technology such as pruning, packing, spreading crops, using organic fertilizers, and producing according to the standards and processes of the export market.

Up to now, there are 96 members of cooperatives running production according to VietGAP standards with an area of 103.5ha, granted 17 planting area codes with more than 114ha. All cooperatives that grow star apples have registered trademarks and electronic stamps for traceability.

Speaking at the recent opening event of a fruit processing facility for export in Ke Sach district, Mr Nguyen Dinh Tung, the General Director of VINA T&T Import-Export Co., Ltd shared, he was very pleased knowing that the members of the cooperatives have made rapid progress in the cultivation of the star apple in recent years. The percentage of star apple fruits meeting export standards is increasing day by day thanks to the packing cover using clear nylon bags.

Especially when Mr. Tung visited the star apple planting areas in Trinh Phu commune (Ke Sach district), he was surprised and delighted to see that the packaging of star apple fruits with clear plastic bags was accomplished very quickly (2,400 fruits/day). with simplified and improved tools by female workers in the cooperatives.

Continuously for the past 4 years, Ke Sach breast milk has been exported to the US, Singapore’s market with increasing quantity. In the first crop year, there were 2 businesses with consumption linking of more than 31 tons. In the 2020-2021 crop year, despite many difficulties due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the consumption quantity still reached nearly 162 tons.

In the crop year 2021 - 2022, cooperatives will link up with 6 businesses to bring Ke Sach purple star apple to the US market with an expected output to be doubled in comparison with the previous year. In the chain of purple star apples, there are already 2 OCOP products with 4-star ratings from Trinh Phu Agricultural Cooperative (Trinh Phu commune) and Quyet Thang Cooperative (Xuan Hoa commune).