Con Cuong oranges fell all over the garden, prices dropped miserably.

It's the main harvest season, but oranges have fallen all over the gardens of many households in Yen Khe (Con Cuong district). Photo: Xuan Thuy

Mrs. Tran Thi Hoai is one of the orange growers in Tan Huong village, Yen Khe commune (Con Cuong). Currently, her orange garden has 200 trees that have begun to yield fruit. However, in the past few weeks, the newly ripe oranges have fallen off in large numbers, while others have turned brown and dried up on the branches.

Taking us to visit the orange garden, Mrs. Hoai looked worried: “This phenomenon happens often but this year it is worse. This year, the family has only sold 4 million VND worth of oranges but the number of oranges in the garden has decreased by half due to oranges falling. Meanwhile, the investment for the whole crop is about 40 million VND”. According to Mrs. Hoai, the phenomenon of oranges falling could be due to a disease and not because the oranges are ripe and then fall.

Ms. Luong Thi Ung, an orange grower in Tan Huong village, said: "Every morning my family has to pick up fallen oranges and take them to the dump."

According to growers, oranges also fell before, but only when they were young. Photo: Xuan Thuy

Ban Pha, another orange growing area in Yen Khe commune, is also facing a similar situation. Ms. Pham Thi Tam, who has a 300-tree orange garden, has seen a large number of oranges falling just after they are ripe. She said that this season, more oranges are falling than in previous years due to fruit flies and the recent heavy rain in the area.

In Quyet Tien village, Chi Khe commune, there was also a phenomenon of oranges falling en masse, but it only happened in a few orange gardens. Mr. Nguyen Viet Hung, an orange grower in Quyet Tien village, said that due to the large number of oranges falling, the productivity of his 400-tree orange garden decreased by about 10 tons compared to the previous season.

In addition, orange growers are also facing a catastrophic price drop. During the peak season, there are so many ripe oranges that some families have to sell them off to avoid them falling at a price of 5,000 VND/kg, while a few weeks ago, the price at the garden fluctuated from 20,000 - 25,000 VND/kg.

It is worth mentioning that in Con Cuong district, there is a cooperative that grows oranges and is granted a label, but the number of members is limited because many households cannot afford to contribute shares to participate. And in fact, the orange processing factory of this facility can only purchase in small quantities.