From an ordinary tree just to get fruit with low value, even though many people cut it down, Mr. Ly has filtered the seeds and propagated more than 10 hectares for economic development.

Born and raised in a mountainous district of Hoa Binh province, Mr. Bui Manh Ly, residing in Yen Bay hamlet, Quyet Thang commune, Lac Son district has found all kinds of jobs to get rich in his own hometown.

After many years of doing business in Hanoi, work in recent years has not been favorable, Mr. Ly decided to return to his hometown to focus on developing farms, raising specialty species such as silkworms, crickets, wasps, and finding looking for high-economic crops to grow on the farm.

Instead of growing papaya to get fruit like everyone else, Mr. Ly chose to grow male papaya to sell flowers.

Mr. Ly found that papaya trees are mostly grown by people to get fruit, male papaya trees are often cut down in recent years, but in recent years, consumers have been searching for high prices for medicinal purposes, up to million VND/kg dry.($1=25,000 VND)

Seeing the growth potential of this plant, Mr. Ly began to conduct research and incubate seeds to plant on the family farm and provide seedlings for guests.

“Usually, male papaya plants will only have flowers, from the 3rd year onwards there will be some fruit trees but the fruit is very small and has no seeds. Therefore, I have to research how to choose the fastest and most accurate varieties, “said Mr. Ly.

From the native papaya trees that grow naturally around the farm, each time the fruit ripens, he filters the male papaya seeds to nurse the seedlings.

Anh Ly self-breeds male papaya seedlings from native papaya trees in his garden.

According to Mr. Ly, usually papaya seeds with light color will be male seeds. However, the method of selecting seeds is only about 70-80% standard. Therefore, when planting trees, must continue to choose the tree roots to plant, the rate of selection in this way reaches the standard of over 95%.

From the 2nd year onwards, the female trees can be cut off the tops, leaving the base about 50cm and then grafting the tops and male branches in order to produce male flowers.

Through survey and research, he found that to grow male papaya, he had to choose the right terrain. If planted in an area with an altitude of over 400 meters above sea level, it will often encounter frost in the winter, causing the tree to lose its leaves and it will take until spring to produce young buds.

Therefore, it is necessary to choose a plain area, an altitude of 100-200 meters above sea level, the tree will grow better.

Thousands of seedlings were successfully planted by Mr. Ly to cover 10 hectares of farmland.

“The land in my area is mostly mixed with cat ear rocks, the terrain is sloping, the flat land is not much. The most difficult thing is that it cannot be mechanized, cannot use anti-grass mulch in rows or rows, but the economic efficiency is still much higher than that of other crops, “said Ly.

However, the advantage is that the cat ear rock soil retains moisture very well, there are holes in the rock that only need a little soil, no need to water, but the plants still have enough moisture and grow well. So he still decided to grow the economy from this tree here.

 In just a short time, more than 10 hectares of cat ear rock land was covered by Mr. Ly with male papaya.

Currently, 3/10 ha of male papaya at Mr. Ly’s farm has harvested 4-5 flowers.

“I grow papaya in the direction of extensive farming. Choose the right time to plant, finish planting without watering, but only occasionally fertilize the tree, so the cost is not high. Each hectare from land preparation, tending, flowering, and harvesting only costs 40-50 million VND”, Mr. Ly shared.

With an average density of 2 meters/tree, about 2,500 trees can be planted per hectare. Subtracting losses due to weather or with female trees, the average will reach about 2,000 trees/ha.

According to Mr. Ly, just 1 year later, growers will recover their initial investment from selling male papaya flowers.

After planting, only 4-5 months later the plant will start to flower, but the first year yield is not high. From the second year onwards, from 30-40 days, the plant will harvest flowers once with a yield of about 0.5kg/tree. From the 3rd year onwards, any tree with many branches will yield from 1-2kg of flowers/batch.

With a wholesale price of 35-55 thousand VND/kg, depending on the time, according to Mr. Ly’s calculations, after only 1 year of planting, the original cost will be recovered. From the second year, each hectare will get from 7-15 tons of flowers/year, depending on the ability to take care of the tree.

The male papaya flowers at the farm where he harvested, no one bought them.

Currently, 3/10ha of his male papaya has obtained 4-5 batches of fortune telling flowers, each about 1 month apart. On average, each batch gets 5-7 quintals of flowers.

“Currently the fresh market is very good, they buy as much as they can. People are also willing to buy male papaya flowers at a retail price of 50,000-70 thousand VND/kg to use as daily food, not to mention medicine,” Ly said.

As expected, from mid-2023, when the output of male papaya flowers is higher, he will sign a contract with a company specializing in producing cough syrup from papaya flowers and providing fresh flowers for partners to consume as food.

Returning to his hometown to develop the economy from raising bumblebees and planting male papaya flowers, Ly and his wife earn hundreds of millions of dong/year.

In addition to breeding male papaya grown on the farm, in December 2022, Mr. Ly also sowed about 300,000 trees. A part of those seedlings will be planted by him on the farm, and a part will be provided to farmers and cooperatives to link and buy products for them. The rest will be sold for 4.5-7 thousand VND/tree.

“Male papaya flowers, in addition to making daily food such as stir-frying, cooking soup, mixing salads, can also be used as a remedy for cough, sore throat, stomach pain, diabetes, dried to make tea, soaked in wine, soaked in honey Meanwhile, I estimate, if the price goes down to 25,000 VND/kg, farmers will still be profitable with the male papaya planting model, “said Mr. Ly.

Photo: Internet (vinlove.net)