Thriving Farmers in Binh Phuoc Enjoy a Bountiful Harvest

Bình Phước is regarded as the “cashew nut capital” of Vietnam, known for its rich red basalt soil in the Southeast region, which helps cashew trees develop well and produce high-quality tasty nuts.

In the border district of Bù Gia Mập, the locality with the large cashew nut area of Bình Phước Province, the atmosphere is bustling with people picking cashews in many orchards. Groups of people gather to pick cashews, spreading the sounds of voices and smiles in the early spring labor atmosphere.

Mr. Điểu Thân’s family in Phú Nghĩa commune started their cashew nut harvest in their orchard from the fourth day of Lunar New Year (February 13). Điểu Thân shared: “Although my orchard is small, about 0.5 ha, this year it yielded ripe nuts that fell early during the Lunar New Year, so my family took advantage of this opportunity to pick good fortune at the beginning of the year. After picking all the nuts in our orchard, my family took the time to pick nuts for other households with larger areas to earn additional income.”

According to Điểu Thân, each year during the cashew nut harvest season, his family takes advantage of the early days of the year to pick nuts in their own orchard as well as picking nuts for hire to earn additional income. After the cashew nut harvest, Mr. and Mrs. Thân begin their work of tapping rubber latex in their small rubber plantation.

Similarly, Mr. Hùng Lộc’s family in Đức Hạnh commune also entered their orchard from the sixth day of Lunar New Year (February 15) to harvest the first crop. With an orchard area of over 4 ha with trees aged between 15 and 25 years, yielding ripe nuts, and an additional orchard area of nearly 1 ha with grafted cashew trees over 5 years old that has yielded tens of kilograms of nuts.

Hùng Lộc shared: “This year’s cashew nut harvest begins immediately after the Lunar New Year holiday, so my family and the local people proactively engage in work at the beginning of the year. This is the early season, so the yield is low. According to the forecast, if the weather is favorable around early March, the cashew nuts will ripen and fall in large quantities.”

In the joyful atmosphere of the early season cashew nut harvest, many households are also worried about the low prices compared to previous years. According to Mr. Điểu Hồng Khanh in Đức Hạnh commune, his family has harvested over 200 kg of fresh nuts, but they have only sold them for about 24,500 VND/kg, compared to over 26,000 VND/kg during the same period in the previous year’s harvest season. Mr. Điểu Hồng Khanh’s family, like other cashew nut growers, hopes that the purchase prices will be higher in order to have income and capital for reinvestment in their orchards in the next years.

Currently, the cashew nut harvest season has just begun its first round. With the lively atmosphere of the early spring cashew nut harvest in many areas of Bình Phước’s cashew nut capital, it brings a laboring spirit full of hope for new achievements.

The chairman of the Farmer Association in Đức Hạnh commune (Bù Gia Mập district) said that many households in the area, after three days of celebrating Lunar New Year, proactively entered their orchards to harvest cashew nuts. Recently, the local agricultural sector has frequently reminded people to take care of their orchards, so most cashew tree orchards are growing well with fewer pests and diseases. People engage in labor and production at the beginning of the year, happily visiting their orchards and harvesting the first crop.

Currently, Bình Phước Province has an area of over 152,000 ha of cashew nut plantations, accounting for nearly 50% of the country’s total cashew nut cultivation area. The province has over 1,400 cashew nut processing establishments and provides regular employment for over 50,000 local and non-local workers. Cashew nut cultivation is mainly concentrated in Bù Đăng, Bù Gia Mập, Phú Riềng, and Đồng Phú districts.