Improve profits by properly sourcing mangoes and managing the packhouse

Seasonal production is one of the main problems causing unstable price throughout the year. Besides, the lack of management at the packhouse will lead to high post-harvest loss and reduce the ability to trace back once there is any quality problem.

Reckoning all these issues, the Mango Business School had organized a successful one-day training called “Mango sourcing & packhouse management” at Sao Mai Hotel, Dong Thap to strengthen the knowledge of cooperative’s and company’s leaders as well as local extensionists on 28th June 2023. The training is a capacity building activity operated under the Green Innovation Centers for Agriculture and Food Sector (GIC Vietnam) project.

The training was provided by both Fresh Studio’s sourcing expert in cooperation with a lecturer from Nong Lam University. The lecture covered comprehensively from managing raw materials at production stage to packing stage through 6 topics: building sourcing area and farmer system, planning and prediction the production volume, standard operation for a packhouse and how to manage and finally, quality control at the packhouse.

40 participants had registered for this course, whom came from a diverse background such as cooperative, company and local extensionist. Besides presentation, the workshop creates lots room for discussion through minigames and exercises. Most of trainees feedback the course is useful for their current works.

Optimizing Mango fertilizer strategy from leaf and soil test result

Imbalance nutrients during fertilization often leads to high incidence of disease during pre and post-harvest of mango production. Therefore, under the umbrella of the Green Innovation Centre for Agriculture and Food Sector (GIC), Fresh Studio has introduced soil and leaf test to help farmers understand more about their soil health and how the tree absorbs the nutrients. Understanding these features can help farmer step-by-step adjust their own fertilizer program.

On 7th June, Fresh Studio gave a short training for farmers in the six project province emphasizing the importance of balance nutrition for good yield and optimize production cost. More than 170 farmers attended the workshop and to be counted more. Together with the training, a guideline about nutrient management also provided to the farmers. The highlight of the training was emphasizing on how importance is the soil pH as the first step the correct the fertilizer application. pH tester paper was introduced and provided to the farmers attended to the training to help them understand the current situation of their soil before any corrective step.

In addition to the fertilizer management workshop, Fresh Studio also promoted the importance of proper pruning for a fruitful yield and reduce the production cost. Mango farmers now pruned after harvest, however, still many producers did not prune properly. Additionally, the planting density is dense which cause numerous production issues, including high risk of disease and high production cost. It is interesting that after the training, GAP Cu Lao Gieng Cooperative has informed Fresh Studio that farmers started to reduce the planting density and the local agricultural department want to promote this innovation to more farmers.

Giving hand saw as a gift to remind frequent pruning to improve performance.

Last but not least, to keep track of the farming activity and learn practical lessons, Fresh Studio also highlighted the importance of keep a farm record and warmed up the contest.

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