With no time to 'hibernate', Nghe An's largest rose orchard has a bad harvest.

Rose apple is the main crop in Nam Anh commune with an area of ​​over 100 hectares, grown by 300 households. Photo: Huy Thu

Losing the whole rose season, farmers lost billions of dollars

Last year, this time was the peak of the harvest of persimmons and rose apples. Throughout the gardens and hills of hamlets 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and the Khe Mai and Dam Nua hills, people were busy harvesting, traders drove trucks into the gardens to buy, and groups of tourists came to visit and experience the gardens. This year, the persimmon crop failed miserably, the entire vast persimmon hill had only a few trees with sparse fruit, and people harvested "pick-me-up".

Mr. Ho Viet Chuyen, owner of a rose garden with more than 100 trees, sighed: "This year, the rose season is considered a total loss. Out of more than 100 rose trees, only 10 trees have sparse fruit, the rest are all leaves, no fruit."

In a good year, each rose tree yields about 1.2-1.5 quintals of fruit, the whole rose garden yields about 15 tons of fruit, earning about 130-150 million VND. Due to the poor harvest, Mr. Chuyen's family lost a significant source of income.

This year, the persimmon crop has failed miserably, with fruit output only 5-10% compared to last year. Photo: Huy Thu

Not only Mr. Chuyen's family, more than 100 hectares of persimmons in Nam Anh this year suffered a severe crop failure, the number of fruit trees only accounted for about 5-10%, 300 households growing persimmons in the commune lost billions of dong. Mr. Ho Viet Sy - Chairman of Nam Anh Commune People's Committee said: "Persimmons are the main crop, a commodity crop that brings the main source of income for many households in Nam Anh commune. The persimmon crop failure has caused people to lose a lot of money, estimated damage of about 7 billion dong".

The poor harvest of persimmons has led to the failure of many "follow-on" services such as picking, purchasing, and transporting persimmons. Mr. Nguyen Kim Loi, a hired persimmon picker, said: "On average, each persimmon season, picking for hire for households in the commune also brings in an income of 25-30 million VND. This year, due to the poor harvest, I am also unemployed."

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong, a persimmon purchasing agent in Hamlet 6, Nam Anh Commune, said: “In previous seasons, my facility purchased a ton of persimmons every day. I had to hire 6 workers to pick, purchase, soak, and scoop persimmons with a salary of 250,000 - 300,000 VND/day. This year, the persimmon crop failed. Every day, we searched the entire commune and could only buy a few hundred thousand to 100 thousand, so my husband and I were self-sufficient and did not hire anyone.”

Because the amount of persimmons purchased this year is only enough to sell to retail customers, large orders from other provinces have to be postponed to next season, so according to her, it is very easy to "lose business" due to not being able to ensure a stable supply...

This year, 50 hectares of persimmons in Nam Xuan commune (Nam Dan) also suffered the same crop failure as Nam Anh. Mr. Nguyen Huu Thuan, an agricultural officer in charge of Nam Xuan commune, said: "In Nam Xuan commune, there are 100 households growing persimmons, only a few households planted them scattered in the garden, the remaining fruit on the hill was lost, the yield was only about 5% compared to last year."

Why did Nam Dan roses disappear?

According to experienced persimmon growers, there are three reasons for the disastrous persimmon crop failure. Firstly, due to prolonged drought, the soil moisture is gone, the streams and springs in the hill gardens are depleted, there is no water for irrigation so the persimmon trees are barren, do not flower or bear fruit.

Although households have invested 3-5 million VND to install water pipes, due to drought, streams and creeks have dried up, and there is no water for irrigation, so the persimmon trees are stunted and do not bear fruit. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Second, in 2018, the persimmon crop was good, the fruit was heavy but the price dropped, it was difficult to sell, people left the persimmons on the tree to ripen without picking. Therefore, the tree had to exhaust all its strength to grow fruit for a long time, so this year the tree did not have enough strength to grow.

Third, the winter of 2018 was warmer, the temperature was higher, and there was very little cold time, so from the beginning of the year (December), the persimmons had sprouted and had no time to "hibernate" (normally, the persimmons only grow new leaves in the second lunar month), while the time to grow branches and leaves was longer, so the persimmon tree did not bear fruit.

In 2018, due to not being able to sell the fruit, people left the persimmons on the tree to ripen. The long growing period prevented the persimmons from "hibernating", the trees grew poorly, did not flower, and did not bear fruit. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Mr. Ho Viet Sy - Chairman of Nam Anh Commune People's Committee said: "Learning from the experience of losing the entire rose crop this year, the commune recommends that people do not prolong the harvest time, which will affect the growth of the trees in the following seasons.

The commune tries to find a stable output for persimmons, not letting them stagnate. Accordingly, in addition to the project to develop community tourism from Nam Anh persimmon gardens, choosing persimmons as the main product to participate in the program "One commune one product" will invest in technological lines, deep processing of products from persimmons: soft pressed persimmons, crispy dried persimmons, persimmon jam, etc., expanding the consumption market, solving the problem of stable output for Nam Anh persimmon trees.

Mr. Ho Viet Sy - Chairman of Nam Anh Commune People's Committee