Sweet Palermo peppers in the midlands

When mentioning peppers, many people will immediately think of the spicy taste, but few people can imagine the sweet and crispy taste like the Sweet Palermo, a new variety, grown mainly in Lam Dong province. However, Phu Tho consumers can now enjoy this special pepper right at home because this fruit has been successfully grown in the midlands by young agricultural engineer Ho Quoc Khanh (Nong Trang ward, Viet Tri city).

Ho Quoc Khanh during his internship in Israel.

Studying abroad to become... a farmer

It is no coincidence that Ho Quoc Khanh (born in 1992) decided to plant Netherland’s Sweet Palermo peppers in Hung Lo commune, Viet Tri city. This plant requires good techniques along with climatic conditions, water sources, and nutrients that are quite specific to other types of plants grown here.

Leading us to the 2,000m2 greenhouse growing Sweet Palermo peppers, bell peppers and Maya cucumbers, Quoc Khanh shared: "I have been interested in farming since I was a child. Therefore, I am determined to pursue my dream of becoming an agricultural engineer and studied in Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry in 2013.

After graduating in 2017, I registered for an internship under a student exchange cooperation program between my university and an agricultural university in Israel, a leading country in agricultural development.

My daily work while studying abroad is taking care of plants, harvesting and packaging products. I realized this trip was a good opportunity to gain experience after being exposed to their high-tech agricultural methods".

Four colors of Sweet Palermo own their different flavors.

After a year in Israel, the biggest thing he received was not the money but the opportunity to access advanced agricultural production technology, especially the world’s most modern irrigation water technology. He continued with another training program in Denmark after finishing studying in Israel.

If Israel owns top-notch irrigation technology, Denmark is famous for agricultural automation. Most of Denmark’s agricultural products are grown in greenhouses with most automated steps, minimizing the amount of labor. A farmer can easily manage thousands of square meters of crops with outstanding product quality.

The knowledge learned from modern foreign agriculture has helped Quoc Khanh find his own direction. In 2020, the young agricultural engineer decided to return to Vietnam to start working for farm owners and cooperatives. This is considered as “schools” that helped Khanh transfer advanced technology and build a modern, effective agricultural production model in the homeland.

Sweet Palermo peppers have been successfully grown in Viet Tri city.

The well received pepper

After working at Green Farm Co., Ltd. (Son Duong district, Tuyen Quang province), the young engineer continued to work with Kim Binh Agricultural Cooperative (Chiem Hoa district, Tuyen Quang province) producing Japanese cucumbers using high technology.

After gaining experience, Quoc Khanh decided to return to his hometown to start a business. In mid-2023, he cooperated with the owner of a greenhouse system in Hung Lo commune to produce the first crop of bell peppers and Sweet Palermo peppers. By January 2024, the first ripe Sweet Palermo peppers were harvested with exceeding expected quality.

Sweet Palermo, originating from the Netherlands, has four color groups: Red, yellow, orange and chocolate with four different flavors. It takes 7 months from growing to harvesting with the yield of 3.5 - 4kg/fruit.

The farm’s current productivity is about 3-3.5 tons/crop with an average selling price of VND130,000 per kg, achieving a revenue of about VND300 million per 1,000m2.

Many garden owners visit to learn from the experience of Quoc Khanh.

Currently, his bell peppers and Sweet Palermo peppers are sold at traditional markets in the city and through social networking sites.

Quoc Khanh is now planning to invest in building a brand of clean agricultural products with traceability labels to expand farming scale and build reputation. In addition, he will continue to remotely support technology transfer to gardeners inside and outside the province; connect and form a supply chain with a variety of high-quality agricultural products, meeting market requirements.

Hong Nhung