Dozens of tons of oranges in Quynh Luu fell due to insect bites.

Mr. Nguyen Trong Tu's family in Hamlet 4A, Quynh Chau Commune has nearly 1 hectare of Valencia oranges, Xa Doai oranges and sweet tangerines. Each year, he sells 3-3.5 tons of fruit to the market, but this year's orange crop is expected to yield only 1.4-1.6 tons, with an estimated loss of VND100 million. The main reason for the decrease in yield is that at night, moths and fruit flies attack and suck the oranges, causing them to soften and fall off en masse.

In the past 8 years of growing oranges, in the past 2 years, many insects have flown in, causing damage to the garden. To limit this situation, I bought fruit fly glue and put it around 40 plastic bottles hanging on the tree branches, creating a scent, attracting insects to stick to the trap; At the same time, I made dozens of net traps, put banana peels inside to use as bait to catch butterflies...

Mr. Nguyen Trong Tu in village 4A, Quynh Chau commune, Quynh Luu

The entire Quynh Chau commune has nearly 14 hectares of orange and tangerine trees. This year, nearly 100% of the area has been infested with fruit flies and moths that have bitten ripe or nearly ripe fruits, creating holes in which they lay eggs. The fruit has rotted and fallen off in large numbers, so the expected yield has decreased by about 50%.

Orange growers in Quynh Luu make net traps to catch moths. Photo: Hong Dien

Currently, growers mainly apply manual measures to prevent fruit flies such as using some quality fruit covers, collecting and burying rotten fruit to limit the number of fruit flies. Along with that, they make their own traps to kill flies and butterflies, mix biological products to spray on a large scale, ensuring safety for consumers when the oranges are ready to be harvested.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa - Agricultural officer of Quynh Chau commune said: This year, there is not much rain like previous years and there is no drought, so the oranges grow evenly. However, when the fruit is ready to be harvested, fruit flies bite the fruit, causing difficulties for producers. We instruct people based on the characteristics of fruit flies that like sweet and sour flavors, so they can use brown sugar, vinegar, wine and water in bottles to trap flies combined with lighting at night to catch butterflies.

Most orange and tangerine growers use some type of fruit wrapper, but moths, fruit flies and dung beetles still bite and suck the fruit, causing oranges to fall en masse. Photo: Hong Dien

In addition to the above insects, orange trees are currently also affected by striped leafhoppers, leafhoppers, leafminers, and stem borers. Therefore, people are actively soaking lime water with garlic, betel leaves, tobacco, etc. to spray on crops, minimizing damage caused by pests.

Quynh Luu district currently has 97 hectares of oranges and tangerines. Thanks to scientific care and balanced fertilization, most of the orange trees are full of fruit. Each year, 1 hectare of oranges brings growers an income of 600 million VND, and for tangerines it is 300 million VND/ha. Currently, the number of fruit flies and moths continues to appear in large numbers in the hills and gardens, while the main method of prevention is still manual, causing many difficulties. Therefore, people hope that the relevant departments and agencies of the district will guide them on the most effective way to prevent insects./.