Tissue-cultured bananas on Bau Ham rocky land

The largest tissue-cultured banana region in Dong Nai

In the early days of 2026, across the rocky hills of Bau Ham commune (Dong Nai), vast stretches of green tissue-cultured bananas have completely replaced pepper gardens once considered a “golden crop”. Along newly built rural roads, trucks line up transporting bananas to factories and packaging facilities, preparing them for domestic and international markets.

According to Nguyen Van Dung, Vice Chairman of the Bau Ham Commune People’s Committee, the commune currently has about 5,400 hectares of banana plantation. Export-oriented tissue-cultured bananas have become the key crop, generating profits of VND 250 million per hectare per year or more.

Local farmers are actively applying mechanization and modern farming techniques to improve production efficiency. Many households have invested in automated irrigation systems, machinery, and scientific cultivation processes, gradually shifting from small-scale farming to large-scale commodity production.

Tran Van Minh, a local farmer, said that bananas, once considered a “secondary crop”, have now become a main source of wealth, capable of generating billion VND incomes.

Alongside expanding cultivation areas, Dong Nai is focusing on building specialized banana zones linked to production-consumption chains. Local authorities are increasing infrastructure investment, attracting enterprises and cooperatives to develop large-scale fields. Many effective linkage models have been established. For example, Thanh Binh Cooperative has established a raw-material area of over 320 hectares, exporting to more than 6,000 tons of fresh bananas annually to markets such as the Middle East and ASEAN.

According to Ly Minh Hung, Director of Thanh Binh Cooperative, in addition to exporting fresh bananas, the cooperative has invested in preprocessing, processing lines, and cold storage to increase product value. This is considered a key direction to reduce dependence on fresh markets while enhancing competitiveness.

There were times when bananas ripened simultaneously, but purchase prices dropped sharply, causing difficulties for producers. Therefore, building sustainable linkages and signing long-term contracts with enterprises are seen as key solutions to stabilize output.

Mai Thanh Huong, Director of Dong Nai Agricultural Aquaculture XNK Company Limited, affirmed that to meet export requirements, especially for the Chinese market, products must strictly comply with standards on pesticide residues and plant quarantine. Enterprises work closely with farmers from the production stage to ensure product quality and uniformity.

Towards sustainable production

As export markets increasingly tighten technical standards, Dong Nai is promoting the banana sector's development in a modern, sustainable direction. Many growing areas have adopted drip irrigation systems and integrated pest management, helping reduce input costs by 10-15% while improving productivity and product quality.

At the same time, the issuance of planting area codes, the standardization of production processes, and the implementation of traceability systems are being implemented in uniform, creating an important foundation for local agricultural products to participate more deeply in global supply chains.

According to Tran Thi Tu Oanh, Deputy Head of the Rural Development Sub-Department (Department of Agriculture and Environment of Dong Nai Province), to maintain and expand export markets, producers need to raise awareness, strictly comply with safe cultivation processes, avoid using unapproved pesticides, and fully maintain production logs as required by planting area codes. These are essential conditions for ensuring product quality and meeting international standards.

To achieve these results, Dong Nai’s agricultural sector has closely coordinated with central ministries, local authorities, and enterprises to transfer technology, establish safe production processes, and support organic certification. Many value chain linkage models have been formed, notably the banana production chain in Bau Ham commune, with a scale of about 500 hectares, closely connecting growing areas, cooperatives, enterprises, and both domestic and international markets.

Le Thi Anh Tuyet, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Dong Nai Province, said that the province currently has six enterprises producing new banana varieties resistant to Panama disease, suitable for local natural conditions. At the same time, more than 40 exporting enterprises have gradually formed closed supply chains from production to consumption, supporting cooperatives in developing standardized growing areas for harvesting, packaging, and export.

From lush banana gardens stretching across the rocky land of Bau Ham to containers of goods reaching international markets, a new face of Dong Nai’s agriculture is gradually taking shape. Beyond economic value, each exported shipment carries farmers’ confidence and the aspiration to elevate Vietnamese agricultural products on the global map.

By 2030, Dong Nai plans to expand banana-growing areas to about 27,500 hectares, with output exceeding 1.3 million tons per year. The province’s total fruit-growing area is expected to reach about 126,000 hectares, with output of more than 3.1 million tons annually, alongside increasingly strong value chain linkages and deeper participation in global markets.

$ 1 = VND 26,113 - Source: Vietcombank.