Many travelers stop to see this exotic fruit hanging in roadside shops, and usually stop to buy it as a gift to take back with them.
Many gardeners growing Marian mango trees in Đông Thành Commune say that the Marian mango harvest season is usually from the end of December to March of the following lunar year. The selling price of the fruit is higher at this time and traders buy it from the garden at VND 50,000 to VND 70,000 per kilogram, with the retail price almost double. At the end of the season, the price of each kilogram that traders pick at the garden or harvest from gardeners delivers about VND 30,000 to VND 40,000, while retailing to customers is usually a bit high.
For many years, when the season came to pass here, in addition to ripe Marian mango displayed at roadside stalls, we also saw sugar sweetened Marian mango fruit, and Marian mango seedlings. Going along the road leading to Can Tho bridge, the two sides of the road are strung with bunches of yellow tea sticks, with people selling one kilogram of Marian mango to customers for VND 90,000, and each seedling of Marian mango costing tens of thousands of dong, while sugar sweetened Marian mango fruit is the same price as a kilogram of fruit.
When asking some growers and sellers, it is understood that this year's Marian mango output is more successful than last year. Leaders of the People's Committee of Đông Thạnh Commune said that Marian mango trees are concentrated in the hamlets of Đông Hưng 2, Đông Hưng 3, and Hóa Thành, in an area of nearly 20 hectares. There are years of high fruit yield, good selling prices, and good income from Marian mango trees.
Mr. Vũ from Đông Hưng 2 hamlet shared that he collects Marian mango once every three days, selling 10 to 20 kilogram of fruit a day. Along with selling fresh fruit, the gardeners here mostly sell Marian mango tree extract and Marian mango jam. When the fruit is ripe or the smell has not gone yet, it can make a sweet drink.
Mr. Tuấn is a service driver. On the way to Can Tho bridge, he once stopped at a roadside tent to buy two Marian mango seedlings which he said he planted in front of his house for fun, and which now are grown fruit trees. It was the same for Ms. Hương who while riding a motorbike in Kien Giang on her way home was attracted by the bright yellow color of bunches of sweet and sour Marian mango and bought one kilogram of each type as a gift for her family.
Ngọc Yến's family from An Giang went to a party across Đông Thành commune on Highway 54 and stopped at a roadside refreshment shop to buy a few kilograms of Marian mango. She said she had been given this fruit by an acquaintance to try it once, and she remembered it well. She said the taste is sweet and sour, but it also has a cooling taste with a great fragrance which she likes.
The Marian mango tree took root in this area decades ago and sometimes many people even compare this to the capital of the Marian mango tree and a specialty fruit of Vinh Long. According to the crops, the Marian mango fruit when ripe is pleasing to the eye. In the inner city of Bình Minh town, there is a very beautiful road with two rows of straight and green Marian mango trees growing on both sides.
According to the People's Committee of Đông Thành Commune, many households plant the Marian mango tree in their garden and contribute to the local agricultural production base in this area. The locality encourages people to maintain and take good care of their Marian mango gardens, which helps develop a variety of products from Marian mango fruits to increase their income, and also increase eco-tourism associated with the Marian mango tree.
