The signing ceremony
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According to a plan approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the northwest and Central Highlands regions will plant macadamia trees on 9,940 hectares of land and develop 12 processing units by 2020. By 2030, there will be 34,500 hectare of plantations nationwide, and 30 processing units in the two regions.
The Vietnam Macadamia Association (VMA) was launched in Central Highlands province of Lam Dong’s Da Lat city on April 24. It aims to represent enterprises, organisations and individuals in the macadamia business. The VMA convened its first congress to elect a 13-member executive board with Lien Viet Post Bank Chairman Duong Cong Minh as Chairman. The congress agreed an agenda that focuses on sustainably developing a modern macadamia sector where business gains bring prosperity to farmers.
A Macadamia tree grown in Vietnam
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By 2030, Macadamia plants will cover 34,500 hectares, 7,000 hectares of which is dedicated only to the tree. Of the dedicated area, the Northwestern region will have 4,800 hectares. The number of processing facilities in both regions will increase to 30, 20 of which will be in the Central Highlands.
The MARD encourages localities in the planned region to develop saplings locally and carry out market research. Farmers are advised to use modern methods of farming. Macadamia is a genus of four species of trees indigenous to Australia. The trees are native to northeastern New South Wales, and central and south eastern Queensland. This is the first project aimed at large-scale cultivation of the macadamia nut in Vietnam.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) will release a master plan for the development of the macadamia industry by the end of this year. MARD Deputy Minister Ha Cong Tuan revealed the intention at a June 4 conference on the development orientations for macadamia, a plant indigenous to Australia which is dubbed the “Queen of Nuts”.
The deputy minister stressed that sustainable production requires proper investment in post-harvest preservation and processing, ensuring the quality of nuts meets international standards. He cited the lesson of South Africa, which produces the same volume of macadamia as Australia but earns just one half due to poor harvesting, preserving and processing technology.
The plan will give directions to localities in the two regions on scale and processing facilities to sustainably develop Macadamia nut production. By 2020 Macadamia nut fields in the two regions will span 9,940 hectares. The plan also set a target of building 12 more processing facilities with a capacity of 50-200 tonnes each in the regions.
After more than a decade under trial farming, it was found that Vietnam produced a higher yield of macadamias than other countries. Local scientists have tested and found that the northwestern and Central Highlands regions have conditions best suited for the plant's growth.
