Mr. Nguyen Duc Han, the Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Dong Tam Commune says: "The custard apple orchards of the households in Dong Bong village as well as all over Dong Tam commune have developed well, which has actively been contributing to improving the people's lives. In order to support the people to develop production, every year the commune organizes the training courses on planting and taking care of custard-apples; deploying loan packages, encouraging the households to expand their production scale and area, and the priority is given to the quality. The custard apple tree is proving to be one of the key crops, which are suitable for the commune, contributing to raising the people's income, making an important contribution to the local socio-economic development.

Currently, custard apples are grown mainly in Dong Bong, Dai Dong and some neighboring villages. The households who grow at least have several thousand square meters, those who grow most have 1-2 ha with thousands of custard apple trees. This is not a new crop in the commune, many households still keep the original custard apple from a few decades ago. In recent years, the market demand and the selling price have increased, the quality of the local custard apples has been known by many people. By 2020, many households have switched to growing custard apples. Many areas have been invested and planted according to VietGAP standards. custard apples have been widely grown to replace the less effective crops. In addition to the main crop, the growers have applied science and technology to produce fruit off-season, increasing their income significantly.

Visiting Mr. Dao Van Hung’s orchard, the largest grower in Dong Bong village, recognized by the Commune People's Committee as a model garden of nearly 1.5 hectares, Mr. Hung says: "In 2020, my family started a model for planting  custard apples according to VietGAP standards with 600 roots, so far we have grown over 1,000.Thanks to the proper care, the orchard produces over 22 tons of main and off-season crops each year, the average selling price is 30,000 VND/kg, thereby it brings an income of 150-180 million dong a year after deducting the expenses. The product is well received by the market, the output is stable, sometimes there is no stock for sale. Custard apples are the main income of my family”.

Sharing experience and techniques for growing and taking care of custard apples, Mr. Hung says: "If you want the custard apple tree to give a lot of large fruits with good quality, it is not fully ripe in one crop, spreading evenly, creating custard apple in the off-season, custard apples need to be manually pollinated. For the pollination to be effective, you must choose a sunny day, pick the flowers near the tops and separate the small branches to collect pollen. The best time to pick flowers is in the afternoon. The manual pollination can give 2 crops a year, the main crop is in August, the off-season harvest is around October. The consumption market is relatively stable, mainly exported to Hanoi, Ha Nam, Ninh Binh and surrounding areas”. 

The climate and soil conditions are suitable, so the custard apple tree grows well, the product has a characteristic flavor. Growing custard apple does not require complicated techniques, but it requires a lot of care. In addition to adding fertilizer and watering, it is necessary to cut and prune branches regularly to produce large fruits at the right time and to avoid many pests and diseases. Every year, Dong Tam commune opens the training courses on growing custard apples, helping the households improve productivity and quality, and prevent disease. Building and developing OCOP 3-star products in Dong Bong has created high-quality agricultural products associated with the local strengths, enhancing the competitiveness in the market, and at the same time it has created jobs and increased incomes for the citizen. Up to now, the average income of the whole commune has reached 65 million VND a person every year.