Ignoring warnings, businesses still harbor ‘macadamia dream’
The Vietnam Macadamia Association has been officially set up under a decision by the Ministry of Interior Affairs. LienVietPost Bank and Him Lam JSC were two major businesses lobbying for the association.
Both of them have become members of the Australian Macadamia Society (AMS).
Him Lam has begun developing two large-scale nurseries in Lam Dong province. And though there is no material growing area in Vietnam, three macadamia processing factories are taking shape.
These include two factories in Binh Duong and Lam Dong provinces invested by Him Lam. The third one has been built by My Anh – Khe Sanh, an Australian-invested enterprise.
According to Nguyen Duc Huong, deputy chair of LienVietPost Bank, in 2016, LienVietPost Bank, Him Lam and other enterprises will carry out activities to realize the plan on developing the Central Highlands into a macadamia metropolis in South East Asia.
The idea of turning Vietnam into a macadamia center in South East Asia was raised by LienVietPost Bank and Him Lam JSC. However, it is described by many experts as ‘impractical’.
There are two viewpoints about whether to grow macadamia in Vietnam. Some believe that macadamia, which is called the ‘Queen of nuts’ and ‘billionaire tree’, would bring fat profits to growers.
Meanwhile, others believe that it would be very dangerous to grow macadamia on a large scale. Scientists warned that there were still some problems that need to be clarified before concluding that this was a ‘billionaire tree’.
Pham Dong Quang from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Plantation Agency said only businesses have called upon to grow macadamia.
Meanwhile, the ministry has not made any official decision because experiments are still carried out.
Dinh Xuan Ba, a mathematician, who spent much time collecting information from international organizations, stated that Vietnam is under a delusion about macadamia.
Ba tried to find out how many US dollars one can expect to earn a year if he grows 100,000 hectares of macadamia for 10 years.
Ba cited reliable documents as showing that there could be 312 trees in every hectare of land. In fact, some sources said the figure is 416 trees.
Meanwhile, Nhan Dan newspaper said in the Central Highlands, farmers put 200 trees in every hectare. As such, if taking an average, there are 300 trees.
Ba estimated that each tree can yield a harvest of 3.2 kilos from every tree after 10 years, not 70 kilos as some people thought.
Tran Vinh from the Tay Nguyen Agro-forestry Science & Technology Institute said there were few areas in Vietnam which have favorable conditions for macadamia.
Therefore, he warned that farmers in many areas would fail when growing the trees.
Him Lam has begun developing two large-scale nurseries in Lam Dong province. And though there is no material growing area in Vietnam, three macadamia processing factories are taking shape.
These include two factories in Binh Duong and Lam Dong provinces invested by Him Lam. The third one has been built by My Anh – Khe Sanh, an Australian-invested enterprise.
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The idea of turning Vietnam into a macadamia center in South East Asia was raised by LienVietPost Bank and Him Lam JSC. However, it is described by many experts as ‘impractical’.
There are two viewpoints about whether to grow macadamia in Vietnam. Some believe that macadamia, which is called the ‘Queen of nuts’ and ‘billionaire tree’, would bring fat profits to growers.
Meanwhile, others believe that it would be very dangerous to grow macadamia on a large scale. Scientists warned that there were still some problems that need to be clarified before concluding that this was a ‘billionaire tree’.
Pham Dong Quang from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Plantation Agency said only businesses have called upon to grow macadamia.
Meanwhile, the ministry has not made any official decision because experiments are still carried out.
Dinh Xuan Ba, a mathematician, who spent much time collecting information from international organizations, stated that Vietnam is under a delusion about macadamia.
Ba tried to find out how many US dollars one can expect to earn a year if he grows 100,000 hectares of macadamia for 10 years.
Ba cited reliable documents as showing that there could be 312 trees in every hectare of land. In fact, some sources said the figure is 416 trees.
Meanwhile, Nhan Dan newspaper said in the Central Highlands, farmers put 200 trees in every hectare. As such, if taking an average, there are 300 trees.
Ba estimated that each tree can yield a harvest of 3.2 kilos from every tree after 10 years, not 70 kilos as some people thought.
Tran Vinh from the Tay Nguyen Agro-forestry Science & Technology Institute said there were few areas in Vietnam which have favorable conditions for macadamia.
Therefore, he warned that farmers in many areas would fail when growing the trees.
