Quang Son is a mountainous commune located in the southwest of Tam Diep city, with great potential for agricultural production development with a total agricultural land area of over 2,700 hectares.

In recent years, pineapple trees in Quang Son have been affirmed as the main crop of the locality. Mr. Toan said: Previously, farmers in Quang Son commune often planted Queen pineapple trees starting from around May and June of the lunar calendar. The planting method was still traditional, without covering the bed with plastic, and fertilizing many times.          

    The limitation of this farming method is that it takes a lot of time and labor costs for weeding and fertilizing; it is difficult to apply science and technology thoroughly, the main fruiting rate is relatively high, after the pineapple plant is growing for only 6 to 7 months, by January of each year it will produce main fruit, at this time the plant has not reached the right age, leading to pineapple fruit not reaching the desired yield and often having low price, difficult to sell, low economic value.

The queen pineapple in Ninh Binh province

      Faced with the above situation, as a population officer and Chairman of the Farmers' Union directly growing pineapples in the locality, after much consideration, research and experimentation, Mr. Toan came up with the initiative to successfully apply the method of placing an IUD on Queen pineapple trees to limit the main-season fruiting and handle off-season fruiting to increase economic value.

     Specifically, after the pineapple plants are planted at peak concentration from February to May, and begin to grow well in September and October, growers will tie the pineapples (also known as placing an IUD on the pineapple plant) to minimize the light shining on the pineapple shoots, avoiding the main season fruiting. Around January and February of the following year, the ties will be cut to prepare for off-season fruiting.

    According to Mr. Tran Quoc Toan, through the actual implementation on the same area of 01 hectare of Queen pineapple, applying the method of placing an IUD to limit main-season fruit production, handling off-season fruit production and 01 hectare of pineapple grown using the traditional method, the clear economic efficiency of the initiative is shown.

      Applying the IUD technique for Queen pineapple helps to minimize the main-season fruiting of pineapples, the rate of fruiting in the main season is only from 5 to 10% / ha. In winter, pineapple buds still grow well, without leaf spots caused by frost. The pineapple harvest yield in the area grown using the traditional method reached 45 tons / ha, the average selling price in the main season was 5,000 - 6,000 VND / kg, the profit reached 95.5 million VND. Meanwhile, the yield in the area applying the IUD method for pineapples reached 50 tons / ha, the average selling price in the off-season was 10,000 VND / kg, the profit reached nearly 285 million VND / ha, increasing both in yield and price when sold in the off-season.

 This initiative can be widely applied in households. Currently, in Quang Son commune, there are over 2,000 hectares of pineapple land that apply the science and technology of placing contraceptive rings on Queen pineapple trees to limit fruiting in the main season and handle off-season fruiting, contributing to the formation and development of a concentrated and sustainable pineapple production area, creating a large amount of goods to supply the market in and outside the province. In addition, from the green pineapple fields, eco-tourism and experiential tourism destinations have been created to attract young people to visit, check in, and promote local economic development.

    Recently, the initiative "Innovation in scientific and technological methods for Queen pineapple to limit main-season fruiting, handle off-season fruiting to increase economic value in Quang Son commune, Tam Diep city" by Mr. Tran Quoc Toan won the third prize in the 10th National Farmers' Technical Innovation Competition in 2024 organized by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union.