VietNamNet Bridge - Ben Tre Province residents showcased many unique products at the 2015 Coconut Festival, including handicrafts made with the leaves and roots of coconut trees.

The fourth annual week-long coconut festival wrapped up in the southern province of Ben Tre on April 13, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors and raking in nearly $950,000 in revenue.

This year’s festival offered 17 different events, including exhibitions, trade fairs, a cultural-arts and sport week, a coconut food festival, a cuisine competition and a workshop on the role of credit in farm produce for export in the Mekong Delta.

The fair brought together over 250 domestic and foreign firms displaying products at 700 booths, notably a variety of handicrafts made from coconut shells, leaves and flesh like coconut facial masks and musical instruments.

An art installation of a 400 metre coconut road covers 14,000 square metres in Cai Coi park, My Thach An commune, divided into three spaces: “ Dua mai dom bong ” (Coconut flowers blossoming), “ Mot thoang que dua ” (A glimpse of coconut land), and “ Que dua ngay moi ” (Coconut land on new day).

The space “ Mot thoang que dua” portrayed images of the past idyllic coconut land, its cuisine and people.

A highlight of the festival is a coconut village day across 164 communes, luring tens of thousands of travellers.

Ben Tre province is home to 163,000 households farming on 63,000 hectares of coconut trees. They produce 500 million coconuts and ship about 200 million USD worth of coconut products abroad annually.

In the first quarter of this year, this southern coconut land earned 35.2 million USD from exports, down 16.9 percent yearly.

Pictures of unique products at the festival:

An unusual coconut on display.           The largest bunch of coconuts this year, with 100 pieces.         Coconuts with oddly colored stripes.     A giant coconut with a circumference of 86 cm.           A 20cm tall coconut tree with flowers and fruit.           Products made from coconut roots.         Flower pots made from coconut fibers.           Through the hands of the craftsman, coconut beards can become decorative lamps.       A fishing boat made of coconut wood.         A house made of coconut.

TTXVN/Zing