Restoring and developing Minh Thanh specialty orange trees (Yen Thanh)

(Baonghean) - After 2 years of the agricultural competition project "entering" the Minh Thanh orange region (Yen Thanh), the orange hills here have changed significantly. The quality and productivity of orange trees have improved, and people's income and life have also increased significantly.

With 15 years of experience growing oranges, Mr. Nguyen Trong Chat (team 2) has a lot of experience in caring for this crop, which is considered a "rich man's" and difficult crop. However, according to Mr. Chat, in recent years, due to unusual weather changes, combined with limited investment in care, oranges have gradually degenerated, the trees are stunted, and the quality and yield of the fruit are getting worse. Since the Agricultural Competitiveness Project came to Minh Thanh, orange growers like Mr. Chat have not only been supported in investing in fertilizers, and have been able to visit effective orange growing models, but have also been trained and instructed on orange care techniques many times. Thanks to that, orange productivity has increased more than one and a half times compared to before. Not only that, the quality and appearance of the oranges have also been improved, and are favored by the market. During the Lunar New Year last year, consumers wanted to buy Minh Thanh oranges even at a very high price (from 95-100 thousand VND/kg), but it was difficult. The income of orange growers increased significantly.

As the province with the largest orange growing area in the country (over 25 thousand hectares), Nghe An has an annual output of 25-27 thousand tons of oranges. However, the products are collected and consumed on the market by private traders, and there is no connection between producers and businesses for collection, processing and consumption. Therefore, the market is unstable, and producers are always forced to supply and lower prices. Minh Thanh is a mountainous commune in the Northwest of Yen Thanh district, with land area and sub-climate suitable for orange trees to grow.

More than 15 years ago, orange trees began to grow in Minh Thanh. Currently, the whole commune has over 150 households growing oranges, with an average of 100-150 trees/household, in the commercial orange growing period, with Van Du and Xa Doai orange varieties, the quality of which is considered not inferior to Xa Doai oranges, but ripens late and is harvested during the Lunar New Year. However, before the project "came" to Minh Thanh, this was still a spontaneous orange growing area, small-scale, scattered, with limited intensive investment, and poor soil fertility, which affected the productivity, quality and consumption capacity of farmers.

The Minh Thanh orange production and consumption alliance was formed and started operating in December 2011, between the Forestry Investment and Development Joint Stock Company on one side and the Minh Thanh orange growing cooperative on the other side (newly established in June 2011, with a total of 130 members). The goal of the alliance is to strengthen the cooperative link between farmers and businesses to consume oranges stably and long-term; improve productivity and quality of oranges; increase income for partners participating in the alliance and develop the market in the province as well as other provinces.

The total budget of the entire Alliance is 6 billion 846 million 254 thousand VND, of which the own capital of farmers and businesses accounts for 60%, and the project supports 40% equivalent to over 2 billion 600 million VND. Different from other projects, the support is concentrated in works and materials such as support for the construction and installation of irrigation systems, high-tech drip irrigation works, helping people to break the mindset of waiting, creating awareness of scientific intensive farming associated with drought resistance, a factor ensuring success in production. Not only that, the alliance is also supported with some tools, organized training to guide techniques, and improve the intensive farming level for orange growers.

Mr. Tran Khanh Tung - Vice Chairman of Minh Thanh Commune People's Committee inspected orange gardens of households participating in the alliance.

Mr. Phan Phuc Hao (Chairman of the Commune People's Committee) shared: By joining the alliance, with the support of the project, people have purchased water pumps, pesticide sprayers, dug wells, irrigation systems for orange gardens... to serve production, increase labor productivity, reduce costs, increase production and business efficiency. In addition, Minh Thanh enterprises and farmers also participated in 12 training courses on techniques for caring for, managing and protecting orange gardens, organizational management skills, and 2 study tours to good orange growing models and units in the province. Thanks to that, people have mastered the process and techniques of caring for orange trees, preventing pests and diseases, mastering intensive production, and significantly increasing productivity and quality. The alliance has been operating for 24 months, from December 2011 to December 2013.

In the first year of operation, due to the incomplete irrigation system, when there was a severe drought during the flowering period, the orange yield decreased. However, in 2013, despite the complicated weather, thanks to the fully installed irrigation system with the investment of the project, the trees grew quickly, flowering and fruiting at a high rate. During the hot season, the orange gardens no longer had water shortages, stunted fruit or pests. Especially thanks to the implementation of early-signed purchase contracts between the enterprise and farmers, the enterprise guaranteed to buy the farmers' products at high prices, so people were confident in investing in intensive farming, without having to worry about output.

Through the project's evaluation, it is shown that the Minh Thanh specialty orange production and consumption alliance has initially brought about remarkable results: Before joining the alliance, the profit of the farmer organization and enterprise only reached over 3.5 billion VND, after joining it reached over 12 billion 193 million VND, an increase of more than 3 times. In addition, the project also supported the commune to build a rural traffic route with a total length of 3km with a total cost of 3.8 billion VND, meeting the travel and production needs of farmers in a timely manner to serve the development of the orange growing area.

Evaluating the project results, Mr. Nguyen Van Duong (Head of the Department of Agriculture of Yen Thanh district) affirmed: Orange production in particular, agricultural production in general in recent years has been strongly affected by climate change, while the level of science and technology is still limited, and farmers' acceptance of scientific and technological advances is not much.

The most encouraging thing is that the Alliance has formed a connection between farmers and enterprises, the State as well as between households to create a connection and sustainable development. Farmers have shifted from spontaneous production to commodity production, the level of intensive production has been improved. From the success of the Alliance, it will be a good condition to help Minh Thanh soon convert inefficient mixed gardens to grow orange trees, creating a large orange production area, with many products and stable output. From 3 cooperatives, it will develop into an orange production cooperative, an important focal point representing orange growers closely linked with enterprises to organize the restoration and development of Minh Thanh specialty orange trees into commodities.

Phu Huong