Driving through the Than Loc Village in Thanh Phone Commune, the number of farm gardens filled with young mango trees already bearing fruit is easily observable.
Trien is a mango farmer who owns 0.6 hectares of land for his 480 mango trees. These four year old trees are of a special variety which bears fruit throughout the year - providing a steady source of income.
It wasn't always a stable situation for Trien. Before growing mangoes, he and his family cultivated water melon, peanuts and Mexican turnip. This required hard labour and the crop would be susceptible to weather related factors. He decided to change to mango farming after observing the success of his neighbour’s harvest.
Growing mango came with its own challenges. Trien used to water his plants by hand and this was a two person job which took around two days. He could not afford a sprinkler system and so had to water the mangoes manually.
In 2017, the farmers heard about IFAD's Adaptation in the Mekong Delta (AMD) project and were able to obtain support for a sprinkler system. The project financed the cost of a pump, pipes and water tank for ten mango farmers who couldn’t afford sprinkler systems on their own.
This has greatly reduced the number of work hours for Trien and the sprinkler system helps to save water. The production of mangoes has increased by nearly 17 per cent.
Trien is a member of the Than Phong Agriculture Service Cooperative which was started with the support from the project and now has over 145 members. There are now 100 members who plant mango and have a contract with the cooperative who then sells their crop to a large supermarket chain.
The cooperative plans to expand their market by exporting to other countries and intends to build a storage facility to increase production. A company has been hired to certify the product and the AMD project provided support for certification and packaging. The cooperative also intends to support farmers who cannot afford sprinkler systems after completion of the project.