Ben Tre (VNA) – The fifth coconut festival in the Mekong Delta province ofBen Tre is scheduled to take place from November 12-18 this year, offering adiverse range of activities across the province, announced Director of theprovincial Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism Truong Quoc Phong.

Herevealed the information during the local authorities’ meeting with the press onFebruary 22.

Thefestival will feature exhibitions on coconut products and trade fairs, alongwith a variety of southern cuisine starring the key ingredient. A workshopfocusing on brand building for Ben Tre coconut will also be arranged within theframework of the event.

Chairmanof the provincial People’s Committee Cao Van Trong said the festival isdesigned to introduce Ben Tre’s coconut products to domestic and foreign tourists.It also offers opportunities to raise the value and position of the country’scoconut sector towards sustainable development and national brand building, headded.

Thefestival will give participants the chance to exchange experience in coconutcultivation, processing, and consumption. It is hoped to encourage coconutgrowers to apply science-technology in cultivation and call on businesses toutilise modern devices to improve productivity and quality, thus expandingmarkets and boosting exports.

Ben Tre province is home to 163,000 households involvedin farming 71,000 ha of coconut tree, or half of Vietnam’s coconut-growing land.They produce 800 million coconuts and ship about 200 million USD worth ofcoconut products abroad annually. The province’s coconuts are exported to about84 countries and territories worldwide. –VNA