Farmers in the Mekong Delta Region have earned well from growing shaped fruits for special occasions and festivals.
Vo Trung Thanh from Hau Giang Province is well-known by successfully growing pomelos that are shaped like gourds.
Gourd-shaped pomelos
Thanh said even though the success rate was only 10 percent after the first harvest in 2009, it was encouraging enough to keep trying. In 2012, the gourd-shaped pomelos were sold for VND600,000 (USD28) to VND1.2 million a pair. According to Thanh, they mostly grow and harvest the pomelos for Tet. Thanh's revenue during this time is often double or quadruple that of other farmers.
Thanh said he would continue to try and make other shaped fruits.
Another famous shaped-fruit farmer is Tran Thanh Liem in Can Tho City. Liem spent hundreds of millions on experimenting before successfully making square, gold bar and heart shaped melons, including a Vietnam map on the skin.
The shaped watermelons now help bringing in VND500 million for Liem annually.
Tran Thanh Liem and his watermelons
Meanwhile, Luu Van Rang from Dong Thap Province has also cashed in millions as he was among the first gardeners to grow the Lai Vung pink mandarin tree in ceramic pots as ornamental trees for special festivals. The tree is among the most in-demand in the Mekong River Delta.
A mandarin tree
Each pot costs from VND1 to VND4 million depending on the quality and 360 mandarin pots helped him cash in VND200 million during last Tet alone.
"In 2014, the peel wasn’t thick enough for my taste. I fixed that and the fruits now look much more appealing," Rang said.