Cashews Harvest season 2023 with BioValley
“The Cashew Harvest Festival” returns to farmers in Ninh Thuan province
Labour results from the efforts of the minority.
Currently, the people of Ninh Thuan province, Vietnam are extremely delighted in the cashew harvest season of what is happening here. Particularly, the entire amounts of cashews from our farmer cooperative – Truecoop – is acquired in order to ensure that our Ninh Thuan citizens are financially able to afford their lives. Therefore, each season of harvest has an enormous significance for the people here.
When will the cashew harvest in Ninh Thuan take place?
Compared to the province of Binh Phuoc, Viet Nam, the harvesting takes place between February and April; our Ninh Thuan province has the next season from April to June. This enables us to provide organic cashew to customers who need to buy Vietnamese origin products immediately after the season with the quality of top organic materials.
How does the cashew harvest and collect happen?
When the harvest season begins, the farmers will pick up each fruit from the trees and ground. Every single cashew nut is passed through the diligent hands of the farmers.
To harvest cashews, the farmers have to wake up very early every day and start moving to the farms by climbing over hills and mountain slopes that are very rugged and dangerous. If you visit our farm during this season, you will certainly meet many hardworking farmers for the “harvest festival” and feel their joy because after a hard day’s work they will have income for their livelihood. The cashews are contained in traditional harvesting tools, such as the basket that is closely associated with farmers throughout the long journey.
After harvesting, they will deliver the cashews to Truecoop’s collection points. Here, we weigh the cashews, check their quality, and Truecoop’s team records the purchase in the procurement diary and dry the cashews.
Truecoop team carrying out weighting and transporting cashews at collection points.
Finally, the dried raw cashew nut will be brought to the factory for processing with EU & NOP standards and quickly come to the consumers. The process requires skills and precision to ensure that the cashew nuts are of the highest quality.
Critical control points in the purchasing process
-The product needs to be ensured to come from the exact certified organic farm, without any mixing from conventional products or uncertified farms. This requires honesty from the farmers and the ability to control by the Truecoop team.
-The product is ensured for the integrity of organic by avoiding cross-contamination from chemical substances during the entire process of harvesting, storage, and transportation. For example, the packaging must be clean and provided by Truecoop; the transportation vehicles must be clean, odourless, and meet organic requirements.
-Organic products need to be distinguished and labeled to avoid mixing throughout the process.
Truecoop’s label and cashew packaging for distinguishing the organic products
-The traceability of the origin is managed, monitored, and recorded from the time the cashews are harvested through purchase receipts, lists of farmers, and delivery notes etc.
-Quality issues of the goods are tightly controlled by the BioValley management team, for example, checking humidity, recovery rate, and other quality criteria.
Why is the harvest season so important to minority people and BioValley?
Every season, we see gladness and excitement shining in the eyes of the minority farmers here. For them, the cashew is the primary source of income for their families. Furthermore, farmers can celebrate their cashew nut harvest after hard-working days of caring and visiting for the tree. And it is also the time, people can connect with other members of the cooperative, as well as collectors like Truecoop to interact, connect and have more motivation to continue to cultivate organic for the next many seasons.
Currently, on average, each farmer can harvest 1.5 tons of raw cashews per hectare. This is a number that we could not imagine when BioValley started the project with farmers in 2017, when the yield was below 1 ton and the farmers had no knowledge to improve productivity. To achieve 1.5 tons/ha, it requires a lot of effort from the Truecoop team in guiding farmers to practice organic farming and other agricultural techniques such as adding manure, pruning, and creating a canopy. This is also a task that BioValley will carry out every year.
Currently, BioValley is buying from farmers every day with quantities up to 2000 MT, updated as of May 11, 2023.
For a cashew business, we need to prepare a lot of resources such as cash, personnel, and location. Despite all the efforts, BioValley also expects a bumper harvest season for farmers, when we can harvest and prepare enough goods to serve our production and supply to our customers.
It can be said that the cashew season in Ninh Thuan is a great pride, a great joy for the people here. We, Biovalley and Truecoop, will continue to maintain and pursue our goal and passion in the organic industry to help people become increasingly aware of the benefits and sustainable developments for society and the environment in organic farming.