Opening of Ben Tre's fruits and trees festival

An annual festival of fruits and tree seedlings has been opened in the main square ground of Cho Lach District, BenTreProvince. The occasion, named "The 9th Festival of Good and Safe Fruits and Tree Seedlings and Agricultural Products of Ben Tre Province", is officially running from May 28 through May 31, 2009. It takes place at the right time of the Vietnamese midyear festivity called Tet Doan Ngo (on the 5th day of the 5th Lunar month), so the day was incredibly fine with bright sun in the morning and mild wind in the afternoon. Officially, this year's festival brings several new features to the ground to attract visitors. First, it is the first time the festival from a district fruit fair held by Cho Lach District to grow into a provincial occasion with the participation of all 9 districts and town. It is also the festival with largest number of exhibition stands, and it concentrate most diverse products from various parts of the province, especially the most typical products that represent Ben Tre's aquatic cultural, fruits and gardening agriculture. Each district has come with its most characteristic produces and special gifts, and they rarely resemble one another.

In his speech at the opening ceremony, Mr Nguyen Quoc Bao,Vice Chairman of Ben Tre's People's Committee, said that he believed this year's fruits and trees festival would continue to show that it really was a useful playground for all of Ben Tre's farmers coming for exchanging experiences in their daily agrcultural practices. He called for the province's farmers and gardeners to step up and gain control of new scientific and technological advances to put into use in their farms and gardens to bring about better economic efficiency. He also called for the farmers to join hands in fruit production and consumption practices to form a new chain of value that might help to push the province's fruits as well as agricultural products forward.

Translated by An Chau