Orange seed sources are chaotic, lacking parent trees.

(Baonghean) - Orange varieties in Nghe An are being spontaneously grafted right in the garden, then supplied to orange growers in the region. In addition, the varieties are also sold at all seedling businesses and rural markets. Orange growers, because they do not understand the role of seedlings, buy floating varieties to plant and may suffer the consequences.

» Orange growers in Nghe An are struggling because of poor quality varieties

Grafting in situ

Vinh orange products are popular with consumers, oranges have high economic value, so the movement of growing commercial oranges in the localities of Quy Hop, Nghia Dan, Tan Ky, Yen Thanh, Thanh Chuong... is developing strongly. Of the current area of ​​5,096 hectares of Nghe An province, Quy Hop has 2,787 hectares, followed by Nghia Dan district with 436 hectares, Thanh Chuong 331 hectares, Yen Thanh 308 hectares, Con Cuong 306 hectares, Anh Son 115 hectares, Tan Ky 141 hectares, the orange area is showing signs of increasing.

The amount of orange seedlings consumed in the area is increasing, many organizations and individuals take advantage of the lack of knowledge of orange growers, supplying varieties that are not guaranteed.

JICA Japan delegation visits orange garden in Quy Hop. Photo: Tran Chau

In the orange growing areas of Quy Hop district, there are 9 orange seedling production facilities in households. Entering the seedling garden of Mr. Tran Van Quang, Nam Loi hamlet, Van Loi commune, Quy Hop district, one can see the eye-catching rows of young oranges. Mr. Tran Van Quang - the owner of the seedling garden introduced: "Here we accept grafting and produce and sell all kinds of orange seedlings. People in the area bring the buds of orange trees (orange garden owners choose the mother) to us for grafting into seedlings, the fee is 1,000 VND/grafted bud. If you buy seedlings that we have already grafted and just need to bring them home to plant, the price is 14,000 VND/tree".

Starting to produce seedlings in early 2016, Mr. Quang's family nursery now has thousands of seedlings ready to supply to orange growers. Each year, his facility produces about 20,000 orange seedlings of various types, supplying orange growers in the region. His seedlings are mainly grafted, the parent trees are selected from orange trees that grow well in the region, and are not planted in isolation. However, when we mentioned the issue of seedling warranty, Mr. Quang asserted: "We always ensure the quality and reputation of the seedlings we produce, so growers can rest assured."

The practice of grafting orange trees by selecting the original orange trees in the orange garden has unintentionally left consequences for orange growers. That is, they do not know the quality of the orange garden and no one guarantees the orange variety.

The household of Mr. Le Quang Hoa - the owner of an orange garden in Minh Dinh hamlet, Minh Hop commune is an example. To have a source of seedlings, Mr. Hoa hired someone to graft the Xa Doai orange variety with golden heart right in the garden, by choosing the parent tree right in the orange garden. The result was that after 4 years of care, up to 1/3 of the trees were infected with yellow tea disease.

Mr. Hoang Minh - Director of Xuan Thanh Agricultural Company Limited said: Previously, our company produced orange varieties, but because there were too many orange varieties of unknown origin sold on the market, while the management was not good, orange growers were greedy for cheap and bought poor quality varieties. As a result, many orange gardens did not ensure quality, had many pests and diseases, the most obvious manifestation was the high rate of "dumb" oranges every year, causing orange growers to lose income. The production of varieties was therefore no longer of good quality.

Con Cuong district currently has 340 hectares of oranges, which have increased the income of local people, becoming a key crop, with each hectare of oranges harvested, after deducting all costs, yielding a profit of 300 - 350 million VND/year. Here, the orange variety is also mainly purchased by households in Quy Hop. Mr. Luu in Yen Khe village, Con Cuong said that he was lucky to buy 550 Mat orange varieties in Quy Hop and got a good variety. He is buying 400 Xa Doai orange trees, but they have not been harvested yet. Mr. Luu added that many households in Yen Khe are not as lucky. Many households also buy orange varieties in Quy Hop but the fruit is very little.

Quy Hop oranges are in harvest season. Photo: Archive

Yen Thanh is a locality that has developed a fairly strong orange acreage in recent years. Therefore, the demand for orange varieties used every year is quite high. Mr. Nguyen Huu Binh - the owner of a large orange garden in Dong Thanh commune, who has decades of experience growing commercial oranges, said: Growing orange varieties is a very important issue, it determines the quality of the oranges, productivity and business life. If you buy poor quality varieties, the orange trees will be susceptible to disease, from which the orange grower will fail. Mr. Binh added: His oranges were planted nearly 10 years ago, although he bought the varieties from a specialized production unit in Hanoi, they still had some common diseases.

No orange tree yet

At the meetings of the Steering Committee for Exploitation and Development of Geographical Indications of Vinh Orange, it was assessed that Nghe An orange varieties produce ripe fruit from October to April of the following year, the remaining time there are no ripe oranges to meet consumer demand. Some orange gardens have been planted for many years, the varieties have degenerated and have low productivity and quality, so they need to be rotated and replaced. Meanwhile, currently the method of producing orange seedlings in the province is mainly done by manual grafting and grafting.

However, currently, the trees supplying grafts and cuttings are mainly taken from gardens that have not been recognized by competent authorities. The grafts and cuttings are taken from mother trees that are not grown in isolation in greenhouses or net houses, so diseases cannot be controlled. Orange varieties sold on the market do not have origin codes according to regulations. Many low-quality orange varieties have been grown in the past but have not been replaced by new varieties with high yield and quality; the work of checking, inspecting and sampling seedlings is still facing many difficulties.

Growing high-tech oranges in Nghia Dan district. Photo: Tran Chau

Mr. Truong Van Hien - General Director of Nghe An Agricultural Materials Corporation added: In addition to the unqualified orange varieties, the lack of process and science in caring for oranges also leads to the situation of "dumb" oranges. For example, sick oranges are treated with pesticides, and if oranges are infected with pests, pesticides are used, gradually the oranges degenerate and become inert.

According to the investigation results of the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection, in the Phu Quy area, there are currently 7 enterprises registered to produce and trade fruit tree seedlings, producing millions of seedlings each year to supply the market, such as: Phu Quy Fruit Tree and Industrial Tree Research Center; Xuan Thanh Agricultural One Member Co., Ltd.; Yen Tinh Rubber Joint Stock Company; North Central Forestry Seedling Production Center; An Ngai Agricultural One Member Co., Ltd.; Seedling Center of 1/5 Cooperative and 3/2 Agricultural - Industrial Company Limited.

In addition, many households and individuals produce seedlings themselves to expand their acreage or sell them to the market. In addition, many fruit varieties from other localities are also brought into the Nghe An market for consumption. The origin of fruit trees is unclear, and seedlings when produced and sold are almost not labeled according to regulations, so controlling the quality of seedling sources is facing many difficulties.

Many units participate in the production and trading of fruit tree varieties like that, but currently in the whole province, there is only 1 unit with seed sources from parent trees and parent tree gardens. That is Yen Tinh Rubber Joint Stock Company (Nghia Dan district) with 3 hectares of parent tree gardens including PQ tangerines, green-skinned grapefruits, Dien grapefruits, four-season lemons, peach-heart lemons, and wax avocados, which were certified by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2015.

In addition, the Center for Research on Fruit Trees and Industrial Trees is proposing that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development issue a certificate for Hong Quang Tien grapefruit as a new agricultural crop variety. All other organizations and individuals producing and trading fruit seedlings in the province have not been granted certificates for parent trees and parent gardens. Therefore, the quality of seedlings consumed on the market is almost uncontrolled, which poses a potential risk of poor quality seedlings, especially genetic resources and diseases. This affects the production results of fruit growers.

(To be continued)

PV Group