'Giant' Palermo peppers are sought after

Due to the COVID-19 epidemic making work difficult, in 2019, Mr. Pham Van Tuan (born in 1990) changed direction, leaving Hanoi to Moc Chau plateau (Son La) to start a career.

Born in the mountainous land of Dinh Hoa district (Thai Nguyen province), from a young age, Mr. Tuan loved gardening and researching plant varieties. In addition to learning knowledge from books and the internet, Mr. Tuan and his friends also went to Da Lat (Lam Dong) to learn about agricultural production models.

Moc Chau district of Son La province is considered the "second Da Lat" of Vietnam because of its mild climate, suitable for growing temperate vegetables and fruits. Grasping that strength, along with the knowledge accumulated from the success of the previous strawberry growing model, in early 2023, Mr Tuan tested the Palermo sweet pepper variety (this variety has been successfully grown in Da Lat).

With an area of 8,000 m2 of the greenhouse, Mr Tuan decided to invest in planting 1.2 thousand Palermo pepper plants. This pepper seed was imported by Mr. Tuan from the Netherlands.

“I can grow this chilli pepper once a year. I sow the seeds in June and harvest them in September. During the care process, flower pruning is the most important step. If the alignment is not done at the right time and in accordance with the weather, the fruit will not be ready and a high yield will not be achieved.

At first, many people did not know about this pepper variety so they thought it would be spicy and pungent, but when they tried it, it was quite delicious, crunchy and sweet. Dealers initially only bought 5 - 10kg at a time for test sell, then they steadily took a few quintals every day", Mr Tuan shared.

Palermo peppers come in four colours (red, yellow, orange and chocolate). Each colour gives a different flavour. In particular, this type of pepper contains high nutritional content, vitamin C in Palermo sweet peppers is 3.8 times higher than oranges and 1.7 times higher than kiwis. Palermo peppers have a growing and harvesting period of about 8 months, with a fruit yield of 3.5 - 4kg/tree.

With 8,000 m2 of greenhouses, Mr Tuan's pepper farm currently supplies the market with an average of 9-10 quintals of pepper per day. Mr Tuan's pepper farm creates stable jobs for more than 30 workers, including many local workers.

Ms Pham Thi Kim Phuong (sub-area 6, Moc Chau town, Moc Chau district, Son La province) is the owner of a fruit store in Moc Chau town and was quite excited when she first saw the "giant" Palermo pepper.

“This is the first time I have seen such a large pepper. The colours are also diverse and beautiful, very eye-catching. This pepper is quite easy to eat, not dark, sweet and fragrant. With such high nutritional value, I firmly believe that Palermo chilli peppers will become an OCOP product and a new unique agricultural product of Moc Chau in the future", Ms Phuong shared.

Palermo sweet peppers are one of the popular pepper varieties not only in family meals but also on menus at restaurants in Europe and America. In early 2020, Palermo Peppers received the 2020 Taste of the Year award (Taste of the Year 2020, Sabor del Año 2020) in Spain.

Recently, Mr. Lim Mansuk, an agricultural expert and director of Korean Kfram Trading Company visited Mr. Tuan's family's Palermo chili farm in Moc Chau district. Mr Lim Mansuk was attracted by this giant pepper.

“I am quite interested in Mr Tuan's pepper farm. I will bring this product back to my country and research it. Our country does not have this fruit yet. Next, I will survey the Korean market. If this product sells well, I am willing to invest in a production model of this Palermo pepper variety in Korea", Mr Lim Mansuk shared.