Hope to introduce local farm produce to the world

With a hope to introduce Hoa Binh province’s agricultural products to the world, Banana Viba Cooperative in Lien Son commune, Luong Son district, has carried out closed processing from production to distribution following VietGAP standards, with a focus on building the "Banana Viba” brand.

Banana Viba was recognised as a three-star OCOP product by the provincial People’s Committee.

In 2019, Banana Viba was recognised as a three-star OCOP product by the provincial People’s Committee. The cooperative sells an average of around 1,000 tonnes of banana, earning over 10 billion VND a year.

Tran Trung Duc, Chairman and Manager of the cooperative, said that the cooperative’s total area of banana is over 25ha, of which 9.5ha are grown following VietGAP standards. The material area of the cooperative has expanded to Kim Boi district, Hoa Binh city and Hanoi. The cooperative has provided support in variety, capital, technical issues and product distribution for its members. The members, in turn, have to strictly obey production process.

The cooperative installs automatic sprinkler systems and covers the growing area with nylon membrane. It also invested in building a 1,000sq.m semi-processing factory. All purchased products are semi-processed, classified and marked with traceability stamps.

The cooperative has three rooms to ripen bananas with high technology with a maximum capacity of 5 tonnes a day. Bananas ripen naturally thanks to absolutely safe bio ethylene. As the fruit is ripened at a temperature of around 20 degrees Celsius, all vitamins and minerals are kept, and it has a bright colour and can be stored for five days.

The Banana Viba Cooperative also invested in building an incubator with a total area of 2,000sq.m to nurture strong young trees to proactively serve production.

With high quality and bright skin, Viba banana has affirmed its prestige to consumers. At present, the cooperative has over 1,000 partners nationwide, including such major supermarkets as Vinmart and BigC. In the first half of 2020, it sold more than 600 tonnes of banana, earning 6 billion USD. Per capita income reached over 10 million VND per month. 

The cooperative also generates jobs for 10 labourers with a monthly salary of 5 million VND per person. Especially, in 2019, the cooperative signed a contract to serve 2 quintals of banana a day on flights of the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines. This is a great opportunity for this kind of fruit to reach the world.