Exotic fruit varieties win legions of fans and earn thegrowers a handsome income each year,
Once a year, Nakhon Nayok delivers an abundance of exotic fruit.
The yellowish orange mayong chid fruit is sold in bunches. The fruit, the size of a large chicken egg, resembles a dew drop in shape. It is crisp when bitten into and the juice is so refreshingly sweet that some have compared it to nectar from heaven.
The mayong chid can be classified as a variety of the marian plum (Bouea burmanica Griff) known in Thai as maprang. But it is no ordinary maprang.
The trees are extremely well cared for so they yield the precious fruit every year around this time. Some of the more famous mayong chid orchards in Nakhon Nayok receive orders a year in advance.
A particular breed of mayong chid has been patented under the name "thoon klao Nakhon Nayok".
The words thoon klao mean "to royally present something" and the name was bestowed upon the fruit when mayong chid were presented to Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn in 1993 at the "Mayong Chid and Maprang Wan Fair". The thoon klao Nakhon Nayok was taken from Sra Prathum Palace, the royal residence of the princess.
Also reporting brisk sales is mayong chid's sister variety, maprang wan (sweet maprang).
A breed called maprang wan Nakhon Nayok, to identify its native attachment to the province, has been patented.
Both varieties have brought the province not only fame but also a handsome income. The total value of about 5,000 tonnes of the two products grown and sold by local growers in Nakhon Nayok fetched 1.25 billion baht last year.
Both mayong chid and maprang wan belong to a plant of the same family. They are grown elsewhere in the country but the quality of the fruit is not as high as in Nakhon Nayok.
Maprang wan and mayong chid were easily distinguishable in the past. But thanks to horticultural technology, the two fruits now look similarly large and almost identical in colour.
The standard size of a mayong chid is about 8cm in length and about 4cm in diameter. Each fruit weighs about 100g.
The best way to distinguish mayong chid from maprang wan is to taste them. The mayong chid is juicy and has a sweet taste with a slight tinge of sourness. The maprang wan is sweet but less juicy.
The history of mayong chid in Nakhon Nayok can be traced back to 1972 when a soldier took seeds of the fruit from another part of the country to be grown in the province. It took him several years to succeed in developing the best breed of the fruit.
The fruit he developed were fleshy and full of taste. He won the annual fruit competition in the province three years in a row starting from 1985.
The name given to the soldier's breed was phan thong yai (large golden breed).
The phan thong yai, however, is not as popular as the thoon klao Nakhon Nayok.
There are now 6,272 rai of mayong chid and maprang wan orchards in three of four districts of Nakhon Nayok, according to the Nakhon Nayok Agricultural Extension Office.
In the past, no grower grew rich growing mayong chid and maprang wan, partly because of the expensive artificial fertiliser required and low yields.
But after the growers adopted the developed breeds of the fruit such as thoon klao Nakhon Nayok and an organic way of growing them, they were able to reap quality fruits and cut down on production costs.
Udom Changmai, a mayong chid grower in Muang district who has switched completely to organic farming, said the cost of growing the fruit had fallen by two-thirds and his mayong chid were sought after by health-conscious buyers.
Like many other fruit growers, Mr Udom relied heavily on artificial fertiliser and insecticides when he started growing mayong chid in 1993.
The yields were impressive but only in the first year of growing the fruit. After that, the soil lost its nutrients as more fertiliser had to be used.
Having switched to organic farming on the advice of the Department of Agriculture, he received Good Agricultural Practices and Food Safety certificates which made his fruits even more popular.
Word of Mr Udom's mayong chid has spread and he has earned the trust of consumers for practising a truly organic farming method.
Mayong chid and maprang wan are now sold at between 200 baht and 300 baht a kilogramme.
Nakhon Nayok's mix of hills and valleys holds the secret to the province's success in growing the mayong chid and maprang wan, said Preecha Kamolabutr, the province's governor.
The other factor which is equally important is how well the growers continue to maintain their farming standards, he said.
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