Ninh Thuan to grow more new, high-quality grape

A farmer tends his grape farm in Ninh Thuan province’s Ninh Hai district - Photo: VNA

The variety, created by the Nha Ho Research Institute for Cotton and Agriculture Development, has been grown on a pilot basis but is in great demand already.

Grown for eating fresh, it is crunchy and semi-sweet with firm flesh, a slight fragrance and just one or two seeds.

Phan Cong Kien, deputy head of the research institute, said the institute is working with local agencies to transfer intensive farming techniques to farmers for growing the variety, which would gradually replace certain degraded varieties in the province.

In the third quarter of this year the institute and relevant authorities would seek approval from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to grow the grape commercially, and subsequently introduce it to more farmers, he said.

It is now grown on nearly 6ha in major grape growing areas like Ninh Hai, Ninh Phuoc and Ninh Son districts, Phan Rang – Thap Cham city and the neighbouring province of Binh Thuan.

Nguyen Khac Phong, who grows the grape on his 2,000sq.m farm under Vietnamese good agricultural practice (VietGAP) standards in Ninh Hai district’s Vinh Hai commune, said he recently harvested the first crop, and it yielded one tonne per 1,000sq.m, fetching him an income of nearly 200 million VND (US$8,800).

The cost of growing NH 01-152 is 30-40 million VND (US$1,300 -1,700) per 1,000 square meter, the same as other grape varieties, but the income is higher, he said.

The variety is suitable for growing in the province’s hot and dry weather and soil conditions and is resistant to diseases.
It yields two crops a year. Traders pay 100,000-200,000 VND per kilogramme of the grape.

The provincial People’s Committee has instructed relevant agencies to cooperate with the research institute to grow the new variety.

The province plans to create a large-scale field for planting the grape in Vinh Hai commune this year, and this is also expected to be a tourist attraction.

The south-central province has more than 1,300ha of land under grapes, mostly the cardinal and NH01-48 varieties.