Pepper farm
Phu Quoc pepper is famous of its spice and hot, especially red pepper. The pepper corn is firm and spice the best in compare to any other one. Only ripe pepper corns are collected (mostly by hand) and divided into 3 kinds: black pepper, red pepper and white pepper.
The favourable land and weather and long-standing experiences, pepper trees in Phu Quoc grow well covering a large area. Pepper brought in by Chineses and has planted here since 19th century. Growing pepper experiences were exclusively kept by these Chineses. Until 1946, when the French army came back to invade Vietnam, Vietnamese evacuated to gardening areas. Since, they learned how to grow pepper.Pepperfarm
Today, pepper trees are planted through the island such as the north island, Bung Goi, Gio fall, Can mouth and Lap mouth. However, they are grown most in Khu Tuong region. Here is famous for series of pepper gardens beyond measure stretching far away.. pepper trees grow on the red land by mountainfoot and on the slope of streams. Pepper cultivation takes a lot of time and efforts. It can just be harvested after three years of planting.
Peppers choosen to air are called the ripe while ripe peppers with rubbed off husk are called white ones. The remains of pepper bunch are brought for threshing and classified into root, ordinary, shiny and deflated pepper. To get hot- smelling peppers, locals have to make a lot of efforts and accumulate experiences because if carefully and properly taken care of, pepper trees can be harvested for around 20-40 years, if not they will easily die soon.
Farmers on the island do not use chemical fertilizers but organic fertilizers and dry peppers under the sunlight instead of by machine as in other regions. Every year, root of pepper tree is banked with new soil that is digged from garden edge in order to modify nutrition used or washed away. That way makes pepper trees grow naturally.
Locals sell dried peppers as an indigenous specialty.
In the twelfth month of the lunar calendar, the time for pepper harvest, visitors will be dazzled by the red color of the ripe pepper as the leaves all fall.
During 2002 to 2006, the price of pepper was decrease seriously; many pepper farms and gardens were left uncultivated and uncollected, the difficult life of farmers became more severe. Despite of that, many farmers decided to maintain their work with pepper garden and looked forward a brighter future for pepper. From the middle of 2007 up to now, pepper price has increased dramatically, Phu quoc farmers cheerfully come back to their hundreds year traditional work. Many pepper gardens appear, green gardens are widen. Tourist can easily find out and visit a garden on the way to the North, the South or the East of the island. Planting pepper in Phu quoc island is not only a way to make living but also a culture. Keeping pepper tree in the island is keeping traditional work, contribute to the development of economy and tourism of this beautiful island
