'Good wine needs no bush'

(Baonghean.vn) - Another story related to orange trees, everyone. The thing is, at the end of Anh Son land, in Dinh Son commune, people spontaneously grow a lot of oranges, nearly 100 hectares. When the oranges here are ripe, just lightly scratch your fingernail and the skin will come off. And it's great to eat. Delicious, sweet, crunchy and fragrant.

I was very curious, wondering why Dinh Son land could grow oranges, and why the oranges were so delicious. After learning, it turned out that this place was originally the land of Bai Phu Farm. When talking about Bai Phu Farm, people will immediately remember the end of the last century, when oranges were an export product, Vinh oranges of Nghe An, in addition to farms 3-2, Xuan Thanh... also had Bai Phu oranges.

Just a quick reminder to better understand the oranges in Dinh Son. What I want to talk about here is something else.

When asking gardeners about orange consumption, they said we grow and sell ourselves in a small-scale manner. We start by selling to customers passing by on Highway 7, through family and acquaintances. Gradually, when consumers get used to Dinh Son oranges, they come to the garden to order, call to have them delivered… The style of “natural fragrance”, a garden owner shared.

An orange garden owner in Bai Phu area, Dinh Son commune - Anh Son.

With a modest area, the products are currently not enough to meet the demand of buyers. However, orange growers in Dinh Son are very worried because of the phenomenon of bringing in low-quality oranges to mix and sell along Highway 7. There are even some households that do not produce oranges but buy oranges from other places, stretching out huge signs with very catchy words, such as "Clean orange garden in Bai Phu - Premium quality" to "tease" consumers.

Dinh Son has 106 households growing oranges, all 106 households are very concerned, expressing their wish that they do not have to do the market in the style of "Good wine needs no bush" as they have been doing for a long time. But, there is no way. And they are also helpless with the problem of "fake oranges".

There are many orange stalls along National Highway 7 that sell fake Bai Phu oranges, selling oranges that do not guarantee quality.

I asked them, why don't they get together to form an association; why don't they consider petitioning the government to build their own orange brand, attach proper labels so that "fake oranges" have no place to survive? Everyone agreed that they would like to. But all day long, they lie on their backs looking up to the sky, their faces facing the ground until the sky is dark; their hands are used to plowing and hoeing, not skilled at branding this and that...

Listening to the gardeners' thoughts, one cannot help but feel sad. And one cannot help but blame the local authorities at all levels. Because, the province's policy of developing orange trees has been in Anh Son district for a while now. If due to economic constraints, they have to leave it to the people to expand the orange area, then at least they should think about building a brand for Dinh Son oranges. Who would let the people worry about fake oranges; and say that doing market economy in the integration period is "natural fragrance"?!!!.

Tuan Lan - Minh Son