Geographical Indications

Geographic features in Ben Tre

Ben Tre, one of the 13 provinces in the Mekong Delta, 87 km west of Ho Chi Minh City. The area is 2315.01 km2. Adjacent to Ben Tree is Tien Giang province to the North, Vinh Long and Tra Vinh province to the West and South, and the East Sea to the East. There are four major rivers: Tien, Ba Lai, Ham Luong, Co Chien embracing Ben Tre forming the entire area from the entire area form the three major islands: An Hoa isle, Bao isle and Minh isle.

Ben Tre land is one of the rapidly encroaching forms of the Mekong Delta in the last thousand years. The largest island is at the mouth of the Mekong river, formed from many other smaller islands due to sedimentation at Tien river estuary. It is true that Tien river’s branches which previously divided the entire area into many smaller parts has gradually been filled by sediment growing, making up the land of Ben Tre today.

Ben Tre has a triangle shape, with the bottom edge stretching 65 km adjacent to the East Sea. Ben Tre terrain is relatively flat, the average height of 1-2 m above sea level. It is rather lower in comparison with other areas of average height of just 3-5 m. Ben Tre is surrounded by approximately 6,000 km-long rivers, very convenient for river transportation and agricultural development.

Ben Tre islets contain four types of soil. They are sand, alluvial soil, soil acidity and salinity. In particular, saline soil occupy the largest area of 43.11%, sandy soil is mainly mounds accounted for the lowest 6.4% of the province.

Ben Tre is in tropical monsoon climates, with average annual temperatures of 260C - 270C. Although adjacent to the East Sea, Ben Tre is less affected by storms, because it is out of the lower latitudes. Ben Tre is influenced by the northeast and southwest monsoon, and has two distinct seasons. The annual average rainfall is 1,250 mm – 1,500 mm.

The formation of the coconut land

In a natural terrain of thick forests, swamps full of wild beasts, 300 year ago the inhabitants who first came to Ben Tre from the central settled their lives in mounds near the sea to avoid predators and floods. They have promoted the production experience right here, cutting trees, and clearing forest for agriculture. Eventually they turned the forest into villages and immense coconut plantations, and lush orchards.

From ancient times until now, coconuts are perennial crops that take an important role in the cropping systems of Ben Tre. Coconut trees and coconut processing production made a face of the economy, culture, society, a particular environment on the lower Mekong region. The look was constantly modified and attached to the history of the development of the coconut Ben Tre.

The country has about 200,000ha of coconut trees. Ben Tre is the leading province on both – the coco-tree area of 65.000ha and the output of 540 million fruits / year. Ben Tre is the islet cluster, located down to the end of the country, fully getting alluvium of the Mekong River before flowing into the sea. Thanks to this, coco-trees in Ben Tre are better growing and making more productivity than in the other areas. The three districts of largest coco-tree areas are Giong Trom, Chau Thanh, and previous Mo Cay, now called Southern and Northern Mo Cay.

Within two centuries, the wild land full of wild animals on the islands of the downstream Mekong River has become the production center of coconuts, and other delicious fruits famous throughout the country.